Contrasting Kemper (KMPR) and The Competition

Kemper (NYSE:KMPR) is one of 311 public companies in the “Insurance” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Kemper to related companies based on the strength of its risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Kemper and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kemper	3	3	2	0	1.88
Kemper Competitors	3336	15674	16522	741	2.40

Kemper presently has a consensus price target of $37.67, suggesting a potential upside of 12.83%. As a group, “Insurance” companies have a potential upside of 5.97%. Given Kemper’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Kemper is more favorable than its competitors.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Kemper and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kemper	$4.79 billion	$143.30 million	-3.97
Kemper Competitors	$15.54 billion	$1.70 billion	34.38

Kemper’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Kemper. Kemper is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

Kemper pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Kemper pays out -15.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Insurance” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.9% and pay out 31.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Kemper has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Kemper is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

86.2% of Kemper shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.8% of shares of all “Insurance” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Kemper shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 13.6% of shares of all “Insurance” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Kemper and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kemper	-10.84%	2.89%	0.60%
Kemper Competitors	9.15%	-9.84%	4.10%

Risk and Volatility

Kemper has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kemper’s competitors have a beta of -1.59, suggesting that their average stock price is 259% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Kemper competitors beat Kemper on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Kemper

Kemper Corporation, a diversified insurance holding company, engages in the provision of insurance products to individuals and businesses in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Specialty Property & Casualty Insurance, Preferred Property & Casualty Insurance, and Life & Health Insurance. It provides preferred and specialty automobile, homeowners, renters, fire, umbrella, general liability, and various other property and casualty insurance to individuals, as well as commercial automobile insurance to businesses. The company also offers life insurance, including permanent and term insurance; and supplemental accident and health insurance products, such as Medicare supplement insurance, fixed hospital indemnity, home health care, specified disease, and accident-only plans to individuals in rural, suburban, and urban areas. It distributes its products through independent agents and brokers. The company was formerly known as Unitrin, Inc. and changed its name to Kemper Corporation in August 2011. Kemper Corporation was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.