Head to Head Analysis: Heritage Insurance (NYSE:HRTG) vs. Sampo (OTCMKTS:SAXPY)

Heritage Insurance (NYSE:HRTG) and Sampo (OTCMKTS:SAXPY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, profitability and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

59.0% of Heritage Insurance shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Sampo shares are held by institutional investors. 14.0% of Heritage Insurance shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Heritage Insurance and Sampo, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Heritage Insurance	0	0	2	1	3.33
Sampo	0	1	0	1	3.00

Heritage Insurance currently has a consensus price target of $29.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.45%. Given Heritage Insurance’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Heritage Insurance is more favorable than Sampo.

Risk and Volatility

Heritage Insurance has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sampo has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Heritage Insurance and Sampo’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Heritage Insurance	12.71%	33.36%	4.46%
Sampo	N/A	19.63%	5.56%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Heritage Insurance and Sampo”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Heritage Insurance	$816.98 million	0.91	$61.54 million	$3.47	6.94
Sampo	$2.47 billion	50.33	$1.25 billion	$1.01	22.86

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

Summary

Heritage Insurance beats Sampo on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Heritage Insurance

Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides personal and commercial residential insurance products. The company offers personal residential insurance in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia; commercial residential insurance for properties in Florida, New Jersey, and New York; and licensed in the state of Pennsylvania, as well as personal residential and wind-only property insurance. It also provides restoration, emergency, and recovery services; property management, and reinsurance services; homeowners insurance products, including single-family, homeowners or duplex, and condominium owners; and dwelling fire insurance policies. In addition, the company provides personal line policies through a network of retail independent agents, wholesale agents, and a partnership with a direct agency, as well as distribute indirectly to retail locations through wholesale agency relationships. Further, it offers personal and commercial insurance policies through a network of independent agencies. The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.

About Sampo

Sampo Oyj, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of non-life insurance products and services in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and the United Kingdom. The company operates through If, Topdanmark, Hastings, Mandatum, and Holding segments. It offers property, casualty, liability, accident, sickness, household, homeowner, motor, travel, marine, aviation, transport, forest, livestock, health, workers compensation, car, van, and bike insurance services, as well as reinsurance services. The company was founded in 1909 and is based in Helsinki, Finland.