Head-To-Head Review: FG Financial Group (NASDAQ:FGF) & The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG)

FG Financial Group (NASDAQ:FGF – Get Rating) and The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG – Get Rating) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Volatility and Risk

FG Financial Group has a beta of 0.69, suggesting that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The Hanover Insurance Group has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares FG Financial Group and The Hanover Insurance Group’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FG Financial Group	$7.59 million	3.56	-$8.51 million	($1.14)	-2.53
The Hanover Insurance Group	$5.23 billion	0.93	$418.70 million	$8.07	16.90

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

62.2% of FG Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.4% of The Hanover Insurance Group shares are held by institutional investors. 61.9% of FG Financial Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of The Hanover Insurance Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares FG Financial Group and The Hanover Insurance Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FG Financial Group	N/A	-23.27%	-5.69%
The Hanover Insurance Group	5.42%	13.26%	2.59%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for FG Financial Group and The Hanover Insurance Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FG Financial Group	0	0	0	0	N/A
The Hanover Insurance Group	0	2	1	0	2.33

The Hanover Insurance Group has a consensus target price of $155.00, indicating a potential upside of 13.63%. Given The Hanover Insurance Group’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe The Hanover Insurance Group is more favorable than FG Financial Group.

Summary

The Hanover Insurance Group beats FG Financial Group on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FG Financial Group

(Get Rating)

FG Financial Group, Inc. engages in the provision of reinsurance and investment management holding company. The firm focuses on opportunistic collateralized and loss-capped reinsurance. The company was founded on October 2, 2012 and is headquartered in St. Petersburg, FL.

About The Hanover Insurance Group

(Get Rating)

The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. is a holding company that engages in the provision of property and casualty products and services. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Lines, Personal Lines and Other. The Commercial Lines segment includes commercial multiple peril, commercial automobile, workers compensation and other commercial coverage, such as specialty program business, inland marine, management and professional liability and surety. The Personal Lines segment involves personal automobile, homeowners and other personal coverage. The Other segment operates through Opus Investment Management, Inc. The company was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in Worcester, MA.