HCI Group (NYSE:HCI) vs. Ping An Insurance Co. of China (OTCMKTS:PNGAY) Head to Head Survey

HCI Group (NYSE:HCI) and Ping An Insurance Co. of China (OTCMKTS:PNGAY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for HCI Group and Ping An Insurance Co. of China, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HCI Group	0	1	5	1	3.00
Ping An Insurance Co. of China	0	1	0	0	2.00

HCI Group currently has a consensus target price of $241.67, suggesting a potential upside of 19.62%. Given HCI Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe HCI Group is more favorable than Ping An Insurance Co. of China.

Profitability

This table compares HCI Group and Ping An Insurance Co. of China’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HCI Group	32.60%	28.80%	12.25%
Ping An Insurance Co. of China	9.67%	8.10%	0.82%

Volatility & Risk

HCI Group has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ping An Insurance Co. of China has a beta of 0.33, indicating that its share price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

HCI Group pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Ping An Insurance Co. of China pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. HCI Group pays out 6.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ping An Insurance Co. of China pays out 33.6% 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.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

87.0% of HCI Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Ping An Insurance Co. of China shares are held by institutional investors. 18.5% of HCI Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Ping An Insurance Co. of China shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares HCI Group and Ping An Insurance Co. of China”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HCI Group	$900.95 million	2.79	$299.01 million	$23.20	8.71
Ping An Insurance Co. of China	$158.64 billion	0.75	$18.75 billion	$1.43	9.15

Ping An Insurance Co. of China has higher revenue and earnings than HCI Group. HCI Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ping An Insurance Co. of China, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

HCI Group beats Ping An Insurance Co. of China on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HCI Group

HCI Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the property and casualty insurance, insurance management, reinsurance, real estate, and information technology businesses in Florida. It provides residential insurance products, such as homeowners, fire, flood, and wind-only insurance to homeowners, condominium owners, and tenants for properties, as well as offers reinsurance programs. The company also owns and operates waterfront properties and retail shopping centers, and an office building, as well as commercial properties for investment purposes. In addition, it designs and develops web-based applications and products for mobile devices, including SAMS, an online policy administration platform; Harmony, a policy administration platform; ClaimColony, an end-to-end claims management platform; and AtlasViewer, a mapping and data visualization platform. The company was formerly known as Homeowners Choice, Inc. and changed its name to HCI Group, Inc. in May 2013. HCI Group, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.

About Ping An Insurance Co. of China

Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. provides financial products and services for insurance, banking, asset management, and technology businesses in the People's Republic of China. The company operates through Life and Health Insurance; Property and Casualty Insurance; Banking; Asset Management; and Technology segments. Its Life and Health Insurance segment offers term, whole-life, endowment, annuity, investment-linked, universal life, and health care and medical insurance to individual and corporate customers. The company's Property and Casualty Insurance segment provides auto, non-auto, and accident and health insurance to individual and corporate customers. Its Banking segment undertakes loan and intermediary businesses with corporate and retail customers; and offers wealth management and credit card services to individual customers. The company's Asset Management segment provides trust products services, brokerage services, trading services, investment banking services, investment management, finance lease, and other asset management services. Its Technology segment offers financial and daily-life services through internet platforms, such as financial transaction information service, and health care service platforms. The company also provides annuity insurance, IT and business process outsourcing, real estate investment and management, futures brokerage, project investment, currency brokerage, property agency, fund raising and distribution, real estate development and leasing, and insurance agency services. In addition, it provides factoring, equity investment, logistics and warehousing, management consulting, e-commerce, and credit information services; and operates an expressway, as well as produces and sells consumer chemicals. The company was incorporated in 1988 and is based in Shenzhen, China.