Head to Head Review: Hennessy Advisors (NASDAQ:HNNA) versus Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores (NYSE:AVAL)

Hennessy Advisors (NASDAQ:HNNA) and Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores (NYSE:AVAL) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and profitability.

Risk & Volatility

Hennessy Advisors has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores has a beta of 0.61, meaning that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Hennessy Advisors and Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hennessy Advisors	26.52%	9.33%	5.72%
Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores	5.06%	6.99%	0.70%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Hennessy Advisors and Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hennessy Advisors	$35.54 million	2.21	$9.96 million	$1.14	8.74
Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores	$17,479.93 billion	0.00	$344.38 million	$0.36	12.42

Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores has higher revenue and earnings than Hennessy Advisors. Hennessy Advisors is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

10.3% of Hennessy Advisors shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.2% of Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores shares are owned by institutional investors. 36.0% of Hennessy Advisors shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Hennessy Advisors pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores pays an annual dividend of $0.13 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Hennessy Advisors pays out 52.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores pays out 36.1% 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Hennessy Advisors and Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hennessy Advisors	0	1	0	0	2.00
Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores	0	2	0	0	2.00

Summary

Hennessy Advisors beats Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hennessy Advisors

Hennessy Advisors, Inc. is an employee owned investment manager. It provides its services to Hennessy Funds and investment companies. The firm launches and manages equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds. It invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe. The firm primarily invests in growth stocks of companies. It conducts in-house research to make its investments. Hennessy Advisors, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is based in Novato, California with additional offices in Boston, Massachusetts and Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

About Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores

Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores S.A. provides a range of financial services and products to public and private sector customers in Colombia and Central America. It offers traditional deposit services and products, including checking accounts, savings accounts, time deposits, and other deposits. The company also provides commercial loans comprising general purpose loans, working capital loans, leases, loans funded by development banks, corporate credit cards, and overdraft loans; consumer loans, such as payroll loans, personal loans, automobile and other vehicle loans, credit cards, overdrafts, leases, and general purpose loans; and microcredit and mortgage loans. In addition, the company offers pension and severance fund management services; investment banking, including services relating to capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and project finance transactions; mobile and online banking services; and bancassurance, insurance, trust, bonded warehousing and brokerage transactions, real estate escrow services, merchandise and document storage and deposit, customs agency, cargo management, surety bond and merchandise distribution services, and payment and collection services. Further, it is involved in equity investments in various sectors, including infrastructure, energy and gas, agribusiness, and hospitality; and treasury operations. The company was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Bogotá, Colombia. Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores S.A.