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

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

Profitability

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

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

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fidelity National Financial	$14.45 billion	0.73	$602.00 million	$2.83	13.81
Kinsale Capital Group	$1.87 billion	4.09	$503.61 million	$24.68	13.62

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.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

81.2% of Fidelity National Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.4% of Kinsale Capital Group shares are held by institutional investors. 5.7% of Fidelity National Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.6% of Kinsale Capital Group 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.

Dividends

Fidelity National Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Kinsale Capital Group pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Fidelity National Financial pays out 73.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kinsale Capital Group pays out 4.1% 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. Fidelity National Financial has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Kinsale Capital Group has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

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

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

Fidelity National Financial presently has a consensus target price of $54.25, indicating a potential upside of 38.76%. Kinsale Capital Group has a consensus target price of $364.33, indicating a potential upside of 8.41%. Given Fidelity National Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Fidelity National Financial is more favorable than Kinsale Capital Group.

Volatility and Risk

Fidelity National Financial has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kinsale Capital Group has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

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

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.

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.