Comparing National General Holdings Corp (NGHC) & Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR)

National General Holdings Corp (NASDAQ: NGHC) and Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends and profitabiliy.

Dividends

National General Holdings Corp pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Kemper Corporation pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. National General Holdings Corp pays out 13.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kemper Corporation pays out 274.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Risk and Volatility

National General Holdings Corp has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kemper Corporation has a beta of 1.11, indicating that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for National General Holdings Corp and Kemper Corporation, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
National General Holdings Corp	0	1	2	0	2.67
Kemper Corporation	0	3	0	0	2.00

National General Holdings Corp presently has a consensus price target of $25.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.59%. Given National General Holdings Corp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe National General Holdings Corp is more favorable than Kemper Corporation.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares National General Holdings Corp and Kemper Corporation’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
National General Holdings Corp	$3.84 billion	0.59	$277.98 million	$1.18	18.02
Kemper Corporation	$2.56 billion	0.78	$129.00 million	$0.35	110.86

National General Holdings Corp has higher revenue and earnings than Kemper Corporation. National General Holdings Corp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kemper Corporation, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

53.8% of National General Holdings Corp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.1% of Kemper Corporation shares are held by institutional investors. 3.4% of National General Holdings Corp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Kemper Corporation shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares National General Holdings Corp and Kemper Corporation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
National General Holdings Corp	3.70%	10.43%	2.23%
Kemper Corporation	0.73%	0.44%	0.11%

Summary

National General Holdings Corp beats Kemper Corporation on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About National General Holdings Corp

National General Holdings Corp. is a specialty personal lines insurance holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the Company provides a range of insurance products, including personal and commercial automobile, homeowners, umbrella, recreational vehicle, supplemental health, lender-placed and other niche products. It operates through two segments: Property and Casualty (P&C) and Accident and Health (A&H). Its P&C segment offers its P&C insurance products through a network of agents, a number of affinity partners and through direct-response marketing programs. Its A&H segment provides accident and non-major medical health insurance products targeting its existing P&C policyholders and the anticipated market of employed persons who are uninsured or underinsured. The P&C segment operates its business through three distribution channels: agency, affinity and direct. The A&H segment provides supplemental accident and health insurance products.

About Kemper Corporation

Kemper Corporation (Kemper) is a diversified insurance holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, provides automobile, homeowners, life, health and other insurance products to individuals and businesses. The Company operates through two segments: Property & Casualty Insurance, and Life & Health Insurance. The Property & Casualty Insurance segment’s products include personal automobile insurance, both preferred and nonstandard, homeowners insurance, other personal insurance and commercial automobile insurance. These products are distributed primarily through independent agents and brokers. The Life & Health Insurance segment’s products are individual life, accident, health and property insurance. These products are distributed by career agents employed by the Company and independent agents and brokers.