Critical Survey: HCI Group (HCI) versus Its Peers
by Sarita Garza · The Markets DailyHCI Group (NYSE:HCI – Get Free Report) is one of 311 publicly-traded companies in the “Insurance” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare HCI Group to related businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, profitability, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings for HCI Group and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| HCI Group | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3.00 |
| HCI Group Competitors | 3316 | 15592 | 16412 | 732 | 2.40 |
HCI Group currently has a consensus target price of $241.67, suggesting a potential upside of 20.82%. As a group, “Insurance” companies have a potential upside of 7.70%. Given HCI Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe HCI Group is more favorable than its peers.
Dividends
HCI Group pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. HCI Group pays out 6.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Insurance” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.0% and pay out 30.3% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
87.0% of HCI Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.8% of shares of all “Insurance” companies are owned by institutional investors. 18.5% of HCI Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 13.6% of shares of all “Insurance” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares HCI Group and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| HCI Group | 32.60% | 28.80% | 12.25% |
| HCI Group Competitors | 9.47% | -9.72% | 4.23% |
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares HCI Group and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Net Income | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| HCI Group | $952.69 million | $299.01 million | 8.62 |
| HCI Group Competitors | $15.62 billion | $1.70 billion | 34.31 |
HCI Group’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than HCI Group. HCI Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.
Risk & Volatility
HCI Group has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HCI Group’s peers have a beta of -1.47, indicating that their average share price is 247% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
HCI Group beats its peers on 11 of the 15 factors compared.
HCI Group Company Profile
HCI Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the property and casualty insurance, insurance management, reinsurance, real estate, and information technology businesses in Florida. It provides residential insurance products, such as homeowners, fire, flood, and wind-only insurance to homeowners, condominium owners, and tenants for properties, as well as offers reinsurance programs. The company also owns and operates waterfront properties and retail shopping centers, and an office building, as well as commercial properties for investment purposes. In addition, it designs and develops web-based applications and products for mobile devices, including SAMS, an online policy administration platform; Harmony, a policy administration platform; ClaimColony, an end-to-end claims management platform; and AtlasViewer, a mapping and data visualization platform. The company was formerly known as Homeowners Choice, Inc. and changed its name to HCI Group, Inc. in May 2013. HCI Group, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.