Tiptree Financial (NASDAQ:TIPT) & Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Head to Head Contrast

Tiptree Financial (NASDAQ:TIPT) and Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Tiptree Financial and Brown & Brown, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Tiptree Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00
Brown & Brown	1	6	7	0	2.43

Brown & Brown has a consensus price target of $118.85, suggesting a potential upside of 8.52%. Given Brown & Brown’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Brown & Brown is more favorable than Tiptree Financial.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Tiptree Financial and Brown & Brown”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Tiptree Financial	$2.04 billion	0.41	$53.37 million	$1.20	18.74
Brown & Brown	$4.81 billion	6.53	$993.00 million	$3.59	30.51

Brown & Brown has higher revenue and earnings than Tiptree Financial. Tiptree Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Brown & Brown, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Tiptree Financial and Brown & Brown’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Tiptree Financial	2.45%	13.87%	1.62%
Brown & Brown	20.84%	17.77%	6.76%

Risk and Volatility

Tiptree Financial has a beta of 1.15, meaning that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Brown & Brown has a beta of 0.84, meaning that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

37.8% of Tiptree Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.0% of Brown & Brown shares are held by institutional investors. 31.8% of Tiptree Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.0% of Brown & Brown shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Tiptree Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Brown & Brown pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Tiptree Financial pays out 20.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Brown & Brown pays out 16.7% 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. Tiptree Financial has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Tiptree Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Brown & Brown beats Tiptree Financial on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Tiptree Financial

Tiptree Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides specialty insurance products and related services primarily in the United States. It operates through two segments: Insurance and Mortgage. The company offers niche; commercial lines insurance products, including professional liability, general liability, contractual liability protection, property and other short-tail, and alternative risks insurance products; and personal lines insurance products, such as credit protection surrounding loan payments. It also provides auto and consumer warranty programs, including mobile devices, consumer electronics, appliances, furniture; and vehicle service contracts, GAP, and ancillary products; as well as premium or warranty contract financing services, lead generation support, and business process outsourcing services. In addition, the company offers mortgage loans for institutional investors; asset management services; and maritime shipping and asset management services, as well as invests in shares. It markets its products through a network of independent insurance agents, consumer finance companies, online retailers, auto dealers, and regional big box retailers. The company was formerly known as Tiptree Financial Inc. and changed its name to Tiptree Inc. in December 2016. Tiptree Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.

About Brown & Brown

Brown & Brown, Inc. is an insurance agency, wholesale brokerage, insurance program and service organization. It engages in the provision of insurance brokerage services and casualty insurance underwriting services. It operates through the following segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services. The Retail Segment receives fees in lieu of commissions. The National Programs segment acts as a managing general agent and provides professional liability and related package products for certain professionals, a range of insurance products for individuals, flood coverage, and targeted products and services designated for specific industries, trade groups, governmental entities and market niches. The Wholesale Brokerage segment markets and sells excess and surplus commercial and personal lines insurance, primarily through independent agents and brokers, as well as the company’s retail agents. The Services segment provides insurance-related services, including third-party claims administration and comprehensive medical utilization management services in both the workers’ compensation and all-lines liability arenas, as well as Medicare Set-aside services, social security disability and Medicare benefits advocacy services and claims adjusting services. The company was founded by J. Adrian Brown and Charles Covington Owen in 1939 and is headquartered in Daytona Beach, FL.