Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) and Fidelity National Financial (NYSE:FNF) Head to Head Analysis

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) and Fidelity National Financial (NYSE:FNF) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Assurant and Fidelity National Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Assurant	5.83%	16.47%	2.47%
Fidelity National Financial	7.93%	14.30%	1.28%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Assurant and Fidelity National Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Assurant	0	1	8	0	2.89
Fidelity National Financial	0	1	4	0	2.80

Assurant currently has a consensus target price of $231.5714, indicating a potential upside of 10.61%. Fidelity National Financial has a consensus target price of $71.20, indicating a potential upside of 18.77%. Given Fidelity National Financial’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Fidelity National Financial is more favorable than Assurant.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.7% of Assurant shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.2% of Fidelity National Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Assurant shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.5% of Fidelity National Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Assurant has a beta of 0.58, suggesting that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fidelity National Financial has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Assurant pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Fidelity National Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Assurant pays out 23.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Fidelity National Financial pays out 50.8% 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. Assurant has raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years and Fidelity National Financial has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Assurant and Fidelity National Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Assurant	$11.88 billion	0.89	$760.20 million	$13.81	15.16
Fidelity National Financial	$13.68 billion	1.19	$1.27 billion	$3.94	15.21

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

Summary

Fidelity National Financial beats Assurant on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Assurant

Assurant, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides business services that supports, protects, and connects consumer purchases in North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through two segments: Global Lifestyle and Global Housing. The Global Lifestyle segment offers mobile device solutions, and extended service contracts and related services for consumer electronics and appliances, and credit and other insurance products; and vehicle protection, commercial equipment, and other related services. The Global Housing segment provides lender-placed homeowners, manufactured housing, and flood insurance; renters insurance and related products; and voluntary manufactured housing, and condominium and homeowners insurance products. The company was formerly known as Fortis, Inc. and changed its name to Assurant, Inc. in February 2004. Assurant, Inc. was founded in 1892 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Fidelity National Financial

Fidelity National Financial, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides various insurance products in the United States. The company operates through Title, F&G, and Corporate and Other segments. It offers title insurance, escrow, and other title related services, including trust activities, trustee sales guarantees, recordings and reconveyances, and home warranty products. The company also provides technology and transaction services to the real estate and mortgage industries; and mortgage transaction services, including title-related services and facilitation of production and management of mortgage loans. In addition, it offers annuity and life insurance products, such as deferred and immediate annuities, as well as indexed universal life insurance products; and funding agreements and pension risk transfer (PRT) solutions. Further, the company engages in the real estate brokerage business. Fidelity National Financial, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.