Head-To-Head Analysis: Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.A) and Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI)

Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.A) and Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Crawford & Company and Selective Insurance Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Crawford & Company	0	0	1	0	3.00
Selective Insurance Group	1	5	2	0	2.12

Crawford & Company currently has a consensus target price of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 12.68%. Selective Insurance Group has a consensus target price of $100.33, suggesting a potential upside of 3.83%. Given Crawford & Company’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Crawford & Company is more favorable than Selective Insurance Group.

Profitability

This table compares Crawford & Company and Selective Insurance Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Crawford & Company	1.81%	28.44%	6.47%
Selective Insurance Group	9.10%	14.51%	3.22%

Risk and Volatility

Crawford & Company has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Selective Insurance Group has a beta of 0.3, suggesting that its stock price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

22.6% of Crawford & Company shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.9% of Selective Insurance Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 54.3% of Crawford & Company shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Selective Insurance Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Crawford & Company and Selective Insurance Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Crawford & Company	$1.31 billion	0.46	$19.63 million	$0.36	34.51
Selective Insurance Group	$5.34 billion	1.08	$466.41 million	$8.06	11.99

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

Dividends

Crawford & Company pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Selective Insurance Group pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Crawford & Company pays out 83.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Selective Insurance Group pays out 21.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Selective Insurance Group has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years.

Summary

Selective Insurance Group beats Crawford & Company on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Crawford & Company

Crawford & Company provides claims management and outsourcing solutions to the risk management and insurance industry, and self-insured entities. The company's Crawford Claims Solutions segment offers claims management services related to property, casualty, and catastrophe losses caused by physical damage to commercial and residential real properties, and personal properties, as well as marine losses. It also offers services in the areas of field investigation, catastrophe, evaluation, and resolution of property and casualty insurance claims; and various on-demand inspection, verification, and other task specific field services for businesses and consumers through a mobile platform. Its Crawford TPA Solutions segment provides claims and risk management services; desktop claim adjusting and claims evaluation services; initial loss reporting services for claimants; loss mitigation services, such as medical bill review and case management, and vocational rehabilitation services; and risk management information services, as well as administers trust funds established to pay claims. It offers services for workers' compensation, auto and liability, disability absence and medical management, and accident and health markets. The company's Crawford Specialty Solutions segment offers claims management services related to large and complex losses in various industries, such as commercial property, aviation, forensic accounting, marine and transportation, retail, building and construction, cyber, and energy. It also provides a customer-centric solution for various loss types comprising high-frequency and low-complexity claims, and large complex repairs; and outsourced contractor management services to personal and commercial insurance carriers, and consumer markets. The company operates in the United States, the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, Canada, Australia, and internationally. Crawford & Company was founded in 1941 and is based in Peachtree Corners, Georgia.

About Selective Insurance Group

Selective Insurance Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance products and services in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Standard Commercial Lines, Standard Personal Lines, E&S Lines, and Investments. It offers casualty insurance products that covers the financial consequences of employee injuries in the course of employment and bodily injury and/or property damage to a third party; property insurance products, which covers the accidental loss of an insured's real property, personal property, and/or earnings due to the property's loss; and flood insurance products. The company also invests in fixed income investments and commercial mortgage loans, as well as equity securities, short-term investments, and alternative investments, and other investments. It offers its insurance products and services to businesses, non-profit organizations, local government agencies, and individuals through independent retail agents and wholesale general agents. The company was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Branchville, New Jersey.