Financial Comparison: Investors Title (NASDAQ:ITIC) and Hannover Ruck (OTCMKTS:HVRRY)

Hannover Ruck (OTCMKTS:HVRRY) and Investors Title (NASDAQ:ITIC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.0% of Hannover Ruck shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.4% of Investors Title shares are owned by institutional investors. 26.0% of Investors Title shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Hannover Ruck and Investors Title”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hannover Ruck	$30.30 billion	1.17	$2.99 billion	$4.04	12.10
Investors Title	$272.76 million	2.05	$35.18 million	$21.35	13.86

Hannover Ruck has higher revenue and earnings than Investors Title. Hannover Ruck is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Investors Title, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Hannover Ruck and Investors Title, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hannover Ruck	0	2	0	1	2.67
Investors Title	0	0	1	0	3.00

Volatility & Risk

Hannover Ruck has a beta of 0.19, meaning that its share price is 81% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Investors Title has a beta of 0.61, meaning that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Hannover Ruck and Investors Title’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hannover Ruck	9.33%	18.15%	3.52%
Investors Title	13.80%	14.62%	11.02%

Dividends

Hannover Ruck pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Investors Title pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Hannover Ruck pays out 43.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Investors Title pays out 8.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Summary

Investors Title beats Hannover Ruck on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hannover Ruck

Hannover Rück SE, together with its subsidiaries, provides reinsurance products and services in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Europe, the United States, Asia, Australia, Africa, and internationally. It operates through Property & Casualty Reinsurance; and Life & Health Reinsurance segments. The company provides property and casualty reinsurance solutions for agricultural, livestock, and bloodstock; aviation and space; catastrophe XL; credit, surety, and political risks; facultative; and marine and offshore energy businesses, as well as insurance-linked securities and structured reinsurance. It offers risk solutions in the areas of critical illness, disability, health, longevity, long term care, and mortality. In addition, the company offers group life, retirement, lifestyle, credit life, and Takaful reinsurance products. Further, the company provides various financial solutions, including new-business financing; monetization of embedded value; reserve and solvency relief; and reinsurance and solvency II businesses. The company was formerly known as Hannover Rückversicherung AG and changed its name to Hannover Rück SE in March 2013. Hannover Rück SE was founded in 1966 and is based in Hanover, Germany. Hannover Rück SE operates as a subsidiary of Talanx AG.

About Investors Title

Investors Title Company engages in the issuance of residential and commercial title insurance for residential, institutional, commercial, and industrial properties. The company underwrites land title insurance for owners and mortgagees as a primary insurer; and assumes the reinsurance of title insurance risks from other title insurance companies. It offers services in connection with tax-deferred exchanges of like-kind property; acts as a qualified intermediary in tax-deferred exchanges of property; coordinates the exchange aspects of the real estate transaction, such as drafting standard exchange documents, holding the exchange funds between the sale of the old property and the purchase of the new property, and accepting the formal identification of the replacement property. In addition, it serves as an exchange accommodation titleholder for accomplishing reverse exchanges when the taxpayers decide to acquire replacement property before selling the relinquished property. Further, the company offers investment management and trust services to individuals, companies, banks, and trusts; and consulting and management services to clients to start and operate a title insurance agency. It issues title insurance policies directly and through a network of agents in 22 states and the District of Columbia, primarily in the eastern half of the United States. Investors Title Company was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.