Head to Head Analysis: FBL Financial Group (FFG) vs. AMERISAFE (AMSF)

FBL Financial Group (NYSE: FFG) and AMERISAFE (NASDAQ:AMSF) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares FBL Financial Group and AMERISAFE’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FBL Financial Group	15.70%	9.12%	1.16%
AMERISAFE	17.17%	14.04%	4.32%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares FBL Financial Group and AMERISAFE’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FBL Financial Group	$736.38 million	2.35	$184.11 million	$4.61	15.03
AMERISAFE	$384.23 million	2.73	$95.81 million	$3.43	15.98

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for FBL Financial Group and AMERISAFE, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FBL Financial Group	0	1	0	0	2.00
AMERISAFE	0	0	1	0	3.00

AMERISAFE has a consensus target price of $64.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.79%. Given AMERISAFE’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe AMERISAFE is more favorable than FBL Financial Group.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

29.4% of FBL Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.7% of AMERISAFE shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of FBL Financial Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of AMERISAFE shares are owned 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

FBL Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. AMERISAFE pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. FBL Financial Group pays out 38.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AMERISAFE pays out 23.3% 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. AMERISAFE has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Volatility and Risk

FBL Financial Group has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AMERISAFE has a beta of 0.87, indicating that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

AMERISAFE beats FBL Financial Group on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FBL Financial Group

FBL Financial Group, Inc. sells individual life insurance and annuity products under the brand name of Farm Bureau Financial Services. The Company’s segments are Annuity Segment, which sells a variety of traditional annuity products; Life Insurance Segment, which sells a range of traditional and universal life insurance products, and Corporate and Other segment, which provides various support operations, corporate capital and other product lines. It also offers life and annuity products through its subsidiary, Greenfields Life Insurance Company. Its other subsidiaries support various functional areas and affiliates by providing investment advisory and marketing and distribution services. It manages all aspects of two Farm Bureau affiliated property-casualty insurance companies, Farm Bureau Property & Casualty Insurance Company and Western Agricultural Insurance Company.

About AMERISAFE

Amerisafe, Inc. is an insurance holding company. The Company is engaged in providing workers’ compensation insurance focused on small to mid-sized employers engaged in hazardous industries, principally construction, trucking, logging and lumber, manufacturing, and agriculture. It is engaged in underwriting the workers’ compensation exposures inherent in these industries. It provides coverage to employers under state and federal workers’ compensation laws. The Company’s workers’ compensation insurance policies provide benefits to injured employees for, temporary or permanent disability, death and medical and hospital expenses. The Company provides safety services at employers’ workplaces as a component of its underwriting process. It utilizes claims management practices. In addition to its voluntary workers’ compensation business, it underwrites workers’ compensation policies for employers assigned to the Company and assumes reinsurance premiums from mandatory pooling arrangements.