Hiscox (HSX) Competitors

Direct Line Insurance Group (LON:DLG) and Hiscox (LON:HSX) are both mid-cap financial services companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment, earnings, risk, community ranking, valuation, institutional ownership and profitability.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor DLG or HSX?

Direct Line Insurance Group received 345 more outperform votes than Hiscox when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.75% of users gave Direct Line Insurance Group an outperform vote while only 47.82% of users gave Hiscox an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Direct Line Insurance Group	Outperform Votes 728 63.75%	Underperform Votes 414 36.25%
Hiscox	Outperform Votes 383 47.82%	Underperform Votes 418 52.18%

Which has more volatility & risk, DLG or HSX?

Direct Line Insurance Group has a beta of 0.44, meaning that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hiscox has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate DLG or HSX?

Direct Line Insurance Group currently has a consensus target price of GBX 212.50, indicating a potential upside of 16.12%. Hiscox has a consensus target price of GBX 1,200, indicating a potential downside of 0.58%. Given Hiscox's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Direct Line Insurance Group is more favorable than Hiscox.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Direct Line Insurance Group	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
Hiscox	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Do insiders and institutionals believe in DLG or HSX?

112.4% of Direct Line Insurance Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.3% of Hiscox shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.9% of Direct Line Insurance Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Hiscox shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is DLG or HSX a better dividend stock?

Direct Line Insurance Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 8 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Hiscox pays an annual dividend of GBX 30 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Direct Line Insurance Group pays out 5,000.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Hiscox pays out 1,875.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Does the media prefer DLG or HSX?

In the previous week, Direct Line Insurance Group had 2 more articles in the media than Hiscox. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Direct Line Insurance Group and 1 mentions for Hiscox. Hiscox's average media sentiment score of 0.87 beat Direct Line Insurance Group's score of 0.59 indicating that Direct Line Insurance Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Direct Line Insurance Group	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Hiscox	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, DLG or HSX?

Hiscox has higher revenue and earnings than Direct Line Insurance Group. Hiscox is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Direct Line Insurance Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Direct Line Insurance Group	£3.27B	0.73	£206.30M	£0.16	1,143.75
Hiscox	£3.70B	1.12	£712M	£1.60	754.38

Is DLG or HSX more profitable?

Hiscox has a net margin of 19.25% compared to Hiscox's net margin of 6.81%. Direct Line Insurance Group's return on equity of 24.01% beat Hiscox's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Direct Line Insurance Group	6.81%	9.70%	-0.82%
Hiscox	19.25%	24.01%	4.10%

Summary

Direct Line Insurance Group beats Hiscox on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.