Analyzing Kemper Corp (KMPR) and Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The) (HIG)

Kemper Corp (NYSE: KMPR) and Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The) (NYSE:HIG) are both mid-cap financials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Kemper Corp and Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The), as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kemper Corp	0	2	0	1	2.67
Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The)	0	4	5	0	2.56

Kemper Corp currently has a consensus price target of $55.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.47%. Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The) has a consensus price target of $55.38, indicating a potential upside of 0.41%. Given Kemper Corp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Kemper Corp is more favorable than Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The).

Insider and Institutional Ownership

55.0% of Kemper Corp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.5% of Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The) shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Kemper Corp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The) shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kemper Corp and Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The)’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kemper Corp	$2.62 billion	0.96	$169.90 million	$0.98	49.90
Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The)	$18.55 billion	1.08	$1.28 billion	$1.79	30.81

Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The) has higher revenue and earnings than Kemper Corp. Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The) is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kemper Corp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Kemper Corp pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The) pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Kemper Corp pays out 98.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The) pays out 51.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kemper Corp has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Kemper Corp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility & Risk

Kemper Corp has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The) has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Kemper Corp and Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The)’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kemper Corp	5.33%	7.25%	1.78%
Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The)	3.73%	9.13%	0.71%

About Kemper Corp

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.

About Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The)

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. is a holding company for insurance and financial services subsidiaries. The Company’s segments include Commercial Lines, which provides workers’ compensation, property, automobile, marine, livestock, liability and umbrella coverages primarily throughout the United States; Personal Lines, which provides automobile, homeowners and personal umbrella coverages to individuals across the United States; Group Benefits, which provides group life, accident and disability coverage, and other products and services; Property & Casualty Other Operations, which includes certain property and casualty operations; Mutual Funds, which provides investment management, administration, product distribution and related services to investors; Talcott Resolution, which consists of the run-off of the Company’s the United States individual and institutional annuity, and Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) businesses, and Corporate.