Fidelis Insurance (NYSE:FIHL) versus Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Head to Head Survey

Fidelis Insurance (NYSE:FIHL) and Equitable (NYSE:EQH) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

82.0% of Fidelis Insurance shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of Equitable shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Equitable shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Fidelis Insurance has a beta of 0.25, indicating that its share price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equitable has a beta of 1.14, indicating that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Fidelis Insurance pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Equitable pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Fidelis Insurance pays out -307.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Equitable pays out 87.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Equitable has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Fidelis Insurance is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Fidelis Insurance and Equitable, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fidelis Insurance	1	2	4	0	2.43
Equitable	0	1	9	0	2.90

Fidelis Insurance currently has a consensus price target of $20.6667, suggesting a potential upside of 26.71%. Equitable has a consensus price target of $65.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.73%. Given Fidelis Insurance’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Fidelis Insurance is more favorable than Equitable.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Fidelis Insurance and Equitable”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fidelis Insurance	$2.42 billion	0.75	$113.30 million	($0.13)	-125.46
Equitable	$12.44 billion	1.30	$1.31 billion	$1.24	43.42

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

Profitability

This table compares Fidelis Insurance and Equitable’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fidelis Insurance	-1.70%	-1.81%	-0.36%
Equitable	3.51%	81.58%	0.65%

Summary

Equitable beats Fidelis Insurance on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fidelis Insurance

Fidelis Insurance Holdings Limited, a specialty insurer, provides insurance and reinsurance solutions in Bermuda, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom. It operates in three segments: Specialty, Reinsurance, and Bespoke segments. The Specialty segment offers aviation and aerospace, energy, marine, property direct and facultative, and other specialty risk solutions. The Reinsurance segment provides property, retrocession, and whole account reinsurance solutions. The Bespoke segment offers customized risk solutions for clients that include credit and political risk, as well as other risk transfer opportunities, including political violence and terrorism, limited cyber reinsurance, tax liabilities, title, transactional liabilities, and other bespoke solutions. Fidelis Insurance Holdings Limited was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda.

About Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc., together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy. The Individual Retirement segment offers a suite of variable annuity products primarily to affluent and high net worth individuals. The Group Retirement segment provides tax-deferred investment and retirement services or products to plans sponsored by educational entities, municipalities, and not-for-profit entities, as well as small and medium-sized businesses. The Investment Management and Research segment offers diversified investment management, research, and related services to various clients through institutional. The Protection Solutions segment provides life insurance products, such as VUL insurance and IUL insurance, term life, and employee benefits business, such as dental, vision, life, as well as short- and long-term disability insurance products to small and medium-sized businesses. The Wealth Management segment offers discretionary and non-discretionary investment advisory accounts, financial planning and advice, life insurance, and annuity products. The Legacy segment consists of the capital intensive fixed-rate GMxB business that includes ROP death benefits. The company was formerly known as AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Equitable Holdings, Inc. in January 2020. Equitable Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1859 and is based in New York, New York.