Donegal Group (DGICB) versus The Competition Critical Survey

Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICB) is one of 57 publicly-traded companies in the “INS – PROP&CASLTY” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Donegal Group to related businesses based on the strength of its dividends, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

Dividends

Donegal Group pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Donegal Group pays out 34.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “INS – PROP&CASLTY” companies pay a dividend yield of 0.9% and pay out 6.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Donegal Group has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Donegal Group and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Donegal Group	8.11%	12.81%	3.29%
Donegal Group Competitors	13.73%	13.34%	4.21%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Donegal Group and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Donegal Group	$978.01 million	$79.34 million	8.96
Donegal Group Competitors	$24.99 billion	$4.08 billion	8.93

Donegal Group’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Donegal Group. Donegal Group is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Donegal Group and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Donegal Group	0	1	0	0	2.00
Donegal Group Competitors	595	3372	3577	236	2.44

As a group, “INS – PROP&CASLTY” companies have a potential upside of 8.24%. Given Donegal Group’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Donegal Group has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Risk & Volatility

Donegal Group has a beta of 0.04, indicating that its stock price is 96% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Donegal Group’s peers have a beta of 0.76, indicating that their average stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

1.2% of Donegal Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.0% of shares of all “INS – PROP&CASLTY” companies are owned by institutional investors. 8.6% of Donegal Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 10.8% of shares of all “INS – PROP&CASLTY” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Donegal Group peers beat Donegal Group on 13 of the 15 factors compared.

Donegal Group Company Profile

Donegal Group Inc., an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial lines of property and casualty insurance to businesses and individuals in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwestern, New England, and southern states. It operates through four segments: Investment Function, Personal Lines of Insurance, and Commercial Lines of Insurance. The company offers private passenger automobile policies that provide protection against liability for bodily injury and property damage arising from automobile accidents, as well as protection against loss from damage to automobiles. It also offers homeowners policies, which provide coverage for damage to residences and their contents from a range of perils, including fire, lightning, windstorm, and theft; and liability of the insured arising from injury to other persons or their property. In addition, the company offers commercial automobile policies that provide protection against liability for bodily injury and property damage arising from automobile accidents and protection against loss from damage to automobiles owned by the insured; commercial multi-peril policies that provide protection to businesses against various perils, primarily combining liability and physical damage coverages; and workers' compensation policies, which provide benefits to employees for injuries sustained during employment. The company markets its insurance products through a network of approximately 2,400 independent insurance agencies. Donegal Group Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Marietta, Pennsylvania.