Contrasting Fidelity National Financial (FNFV) and Hilltop Holdings (NYSE:HTH)

Fidelity National Financial (NYSE: FNFV) and Hilltop Holdings (NYSE:HTH) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitabiliy, valuation and dividends.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Fidelity National Financial and Hilltop Holdings’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fidelity National Financial	$1.59 billion	0.71	$303.00 million	$1.59	10.85
Hilltop Holdings	$1.68 billion	1.49	$172.46 million	$1.79	14.55

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

Risk & Volatility

Fidelity National Financial has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hilltop Holdings has a beta of 1.03, indicating that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fidelity National Financial	6.75%	1.74%	0.83%
Hilltop Holdings	10.02%	9.39%	1.39%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Fidelity National Financial and Hilltop Holdings, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fidelity National Financial	0	1	0	0	2.00
Hilltop Holdings	0	2	2	0	2.50

Fidelity National Financial currently has a consensus target price of $16.00, indicating a potential downside of 7.25%. Hilltop Holdings has a consensus target price of $29.50, indicating a potential upside of 13.24%. Given Hilltop Holdings’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hilltop Holdings is more favorable than Fidelity National Financial.

Dividends

Hilltop Holdings pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Fidelity National Financial does not pay a dividend. Hilltop Holdings pays out 13.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

85.0% of Fidelity National Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.8% of Hilltop Holdings shares are held by institutional investors. 5.4% of Fidelity National Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 22.5% of Hilltop Holdings shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Hilltop Holdings beats Fidelity National Financial on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fidelity National Financial

Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (FNF) is a holding company. The Company is a provider of title insurance, technology and transaction services to the real estate and mortgage industries. The Company’s segments include Title, Black Knight, FNF Core Corporate and Other, Restaurant Group, and FNFV Corporate and Other. Its business is organized into groups, including FNF Group and FNF Ventures (FNFV). The Company offers title insurance through its title insurance underwriters: Fidelity National Title Insurance Company, Chicago Title Insurance Company, Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company, Alamo Title Insurance and National Title Insurance of New York Inc., which collectively issue title insurance policies. FNF Group also provides mortgage technology solutions, including MSP, a residential mortgage servicing technology platform in the United States, through its subsidiary, Black Knight Financial Services, Inc. (Black Knight).

About Hilltop Holdings

Hilltop Holdings Inc. is a financial holding Company. The Company provides business and consumer banking services from offices located throughout Texas through PlainsCapital Bank (the Bank). It has three operating business units, which include PlainsCapital Corporation (PCC) (banking and mortgage origination), Hilltop Securities Holdings LLC (Securities Holdings) (broker-dealer) and PlainsCapital Company (NLC) (insurance). The PCC unit includes the Bank, and its subsidiary, PrimeLending (collectively referred to herein as PlainsCapital), while the Securities Holdings unit includes its broker-dealer operations transferred from the PCC unit, and two entities acquired in the SWS Group, Inc. (SWS) Merger, Hilltop Securities Inc. (Hilltop Securities) and Hilltop Securities Independent Network Inc. (HTS Independent Network). Its segments include Banking, Broker-Dealer, mortgage origination, insurance and Corporate.