United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) & CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) Head to Head Contrast

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) and United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Dividends

CNO Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. United Fire Group pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. CNO Financial Group pays out 24.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United Fire Group pays out 14.9% 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. CNO Financial Group has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. United Fire Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

95.4% of CNO Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.7% of United Fire Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of CNO Financial Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.1% of United Fire Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares CNO Financial Group and United Fire Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CNO Financial Group	6.02%	18.76%	1.24%
United Fire Group	9.57%	15.19%	3.69%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for CNO Financial Group and United Fire Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CNO Financial Group	0	3	2	0	2.40
United Fire Group	0	0	2	2	3.50

CNO Financial Group presently has a consensus price target of $56.00, indicating a potential upside of 3.72%. United Fire Group has a consensus price target of $52.50, indicating a potential downside of 2.24%. Given CNO Financial Group’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe CNO Financial Group is more favorable than United Fire Group.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CNO Financial Group and United Fire Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CNO Financial Group	$4.49 billion	1.11	$229.30 million	$2.91	18.55
United Fire Group	$1.39 billion	1.00	$118.19 million	$5.38	9.98

CNO Financial Group has higher revenue and earnings than United Fire Group. United Fire Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CNO Financial Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

CNO Financial Group has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Fire Group has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

CNO Financial Group beats United Fire Group on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CNO Financial Group

CNO Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops, markets, and administers health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance, insurance products, and financial services for senior and middle-income markets in the United States. It offers Medicare supplement, supplemental health, and long-term care insurance policies; life insurance; and annuities, as well as Medicare advantage plans to individuals through phone, online, mail, and face-to-face. The company also focuses on sale of voluntary benefit life and health insurance products for businesses, associations, and other membership groups by interacting with customers at their place of employment. In addition, it provides fixed indexed annuities; fixed interest annuities, including fixed rate single and flexible premium deferred annuities; single premium immediate annuities; supplemental health products, such as specified disease, accident, and hospital indemnity products; and long-term care plans primarily to retirees and older self-employed individuals in the middle-income market. Further, the company offers universal life and other interest-sensitive life products; and traditional life policies that include whole life, graded benefit life, term life, and single premium whole life products, as well as graded benefit life insurance products. It markets its products under the Bankers Life, Washington National, and Colonial Penn brand names. The company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.

About United Fire Group

United Fire Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides property and casualty insurance for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers commercial and personal lines of property and casualty insurance; and reinsurance coverage for property and casualty insurance. Its commercial lines include fire and allied lines, other liability, automobile, workers’ compensation, fidelity and surety coverage, and other insurance products; and personal lines comprise automobile, and fire and allied lines coverage, including homeowners, as well as provides assumed reinsurance products. The company sells its products through a network of independent agencies. United Fire Group, Inc. was incorporated in 1946 and is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.