Financial Comparison: Westwood Holdings Group (NYSE:WHG) & Barings Participation Investors (NYSE:MPV)

Westwood Holdings Group (NYSE:WHG) and Barings Participation Investors (NYSE:MPV) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, profitability, valuation and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Westwood Holdings Group pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Barings Participation Investors pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.7%. Westwood Holdings Group pays out 75.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Westwood Holdings Group and Barings Participation Investors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Westwood Holdings Group	0	0	1	0	3.00
Barings Participation Investors	0	0	0	0	0.00

Profitability

This table compares Westwood Holdings Group and Barings Participation Investors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Westwood Holdings Group	7.22%	8.30%	7.05%
Barings Participation Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Westwood Holdings Group and Barings Participation Investors”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Westwood Holdings Group	$97.76 million	1.62	$7.06 million	$0.79	21.26
Barings Participation Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Westwood Holdings Group has higher revenue and earnings than Barings Participation Investors.

Risk and Volatility

Westwood Holdings Group has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barings Participation Investors has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

56.6% of Westwood Holdings Group shares are held by institutional investors. 8.2% of Westwood Holdings Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Barings Participation Investors shares are held by company 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.

Summary

Westwood Holdings Group beats Barings Participation Investors on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Westwood Holdings Group

Westwood Holdings Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, manages investment assets and provides services for its clients. The company operates in two segments, Advisory and Trust. The Advisory segment provides investment advisory services to corporate retirement plans, public retirement plans, endowments, foundations, individuals, and the Westwood Funds; and investment sub-advisory services to mutual funds, pooled investment vehicles, and its Trust segment. The Trust segment offers trust and custodial services; and participates in common trust funds that it sponsors to institutions and high net worth individuals. Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Dallas, Texas.

About Barings Participation Investors

Barings Participation Investors is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Barings LLC. The fund invests in the fixed income markets of the United States. It primarily invests in below-investment grade, long-term corporate debt obligations which are directly purchased from its issuers. The fund also seeks to invest in warrants, conversion rights, or other equity related instruments. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against Standard and Poor's Industrials Composite, Russell 2000 Index, Lehman Brothers U.S. High Yield Index, and Lehman Brothers Intermediate U.S. Credit Index. The fund was formerly known as Babson Capital Participation Investors. Barings Participation Investors was formed on April 7, 1988 and is domiciled in the United States.