Financial Contrast: Kinsale Capital Group (NYSE:KNSL) & Fidelity National Financial (NYSE:FNF)

Kinsale Capital Group (NYSE:KNSL) and Fidelity National Financial (NYSE:FNF) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

85.4% of Kinsale Capital Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.2% of Fidelity National Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 5.6% of Kinsale Capital Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Fidelity National Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Kinsale Capital Group has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fidelity National Financial has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kinsale Capital Group and Fidelity National Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kinsale Capital Group	$1.87 billion	4.65	$503.61 million	$24.68	15.51
Fidelity National Financial	$14.45 billion	0.88	$602.00 million	$2.83	16.74

Fidelity National Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Kinsale Capital Group. Kinsale Capital Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Fidelity National Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Kinsale Capital Group and Fidelity National Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kinsale Capital Group	2	7	1	0	1.90
Fidelity National Financial	0	3	2	0	2.40

Kinsale Capital Group currently has a consensus target price of $368.78, indicating a potential downside of 3.66%. Fidelity National Financial has a consensus target price of $56.00, indicating a potential upside of 18.22%. Given Fidelity National Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Fidelity National Financial is more favorable than Kinsale Capital Group.

Profitability

This table compares Kinsale Capital Group and Fidelity National Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kinsale Capital Group	28.49%	25.54%	8.15%
Fidelity National Financial	5.03%	16.07%	1.30%

Dividends

Kinsale Capital Group pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Fidelity National Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Kinsale Capital Group pays out 4.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Fidelity National Financial pays out 73.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Kinsale Capital Group has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Fidelity National Financial has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Summary

Fidelity National Financial beats Kinsale Capital Group on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kinsale Capital Group

Kinsale Capital Group, Inc., a specialty insurance company, engages in the provision of property and casualty insurance products in the United States. The company’s commercial lines offerings include commercial property, small business casualty and property, excess and general casualty, construction, allied health, life sciences, entertainment, energy, environmental, excess professional, health care, public entity, commercial auto, inland marine, aviation, ocean marine, product recall, and railroad, as well as product, professional, and management liability insurance. It markets and sells its insurance products in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands primarily through a network of independent insurance brokers. The company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.

About Fidelity National Financial

Fidelity National Financial, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides various insurance products in the United States. The company operates through Title, F&G, and Corporate and Other segments. It offers title insurance, escrow, and other title related services, including trust activities, trustee sales guarantees, recordings and reconveyances, and home warranty products. The company also provides technology and transaction services to the real estate and mortgage industries; and mortgage transaction services, including title-related services and facilitation of production and management of mortgage loans. In addition, it offers annuity and life insurance products, such as deferred and immediate annuities, as well as indexed universal life insurance products; and funding agreements and pension risk transfer (PRT) solutions. Further, the company engages in the real estate brokerage business. Fidelity National Financial, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.