Reviewing Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) and Skyward Specialty Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SKWD)

Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) and Skyward Specialty Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SKWD) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Risk and Volatility

Horace Mann Educators has a beta of 0.3, suggesting that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Skyward Specialty Insurance Group has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Horace Mann Educators and Skyward Specialty Insurance Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Horace Mann Educators	0	3	0	1	2.50
Skyward Specialty Insurance Group	0	3	7	1	2.82

Horace Mann Educators presently has a consensus target price of $42.67, indicating a potential upside of 2.59%. Skyward Specialty Insurance Group has a consensus target price of $46.89, indicating a potential downside of 10.96%. Given Horace Mann Educators’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Horace Mann Educators is more favorable than Skyward Specialty Insurance Group.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Horace Mann Educators and Skyward Specialty Insurance Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Horace Mann Educators	$1.54 billion	1.10	$45.00 million	$2.51	16.57
Skyward Specialty Insurance Group	$885.97 million	2.38	$85.98 million	$3.28	16.05

Skyward Specialty Insurance Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Horace Mann Educators. Skyward Specialty Insurance Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Horace Mann Educators, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Horace Mann Educators and Skyward Specialty Insurance Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Horace Mann Educators	6.55%	8.14%	0.69%
Skyward Specialty Insurance Group	12.24%	16.39%	3.57%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

99.3% of Horace Mann Educators shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.8% of Skyward Specialty Insurance Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.8% of Horace Mann Educators shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.0% of Skyward Specialty Insurance Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Skyward Specialty Insurance Group beats Horace Mann Educators on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Horace Mann Educators

Horace Mann Educators Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an insurance holding company in the United States. The company operates through Property & Casualty, Life & Retirement, and Supplemental & Group Benefits segments. Its Property & Casualty segment offers insurance products, including private passenger auto insurance, residential home insurance, and personal umbrella insurance; and provides auto coverages including liability and collision, and property coverage for homeowners and renters. The Life & Retirement segment markets tax-qualified fixed, fixed indexed, and variable annuities; and internal revenue code for educator, which allows public school employees and employees of other tax-exempt organizations, such as not-for-profit private schools, to utilize pretax income to make periodic contributions to a qualified retirement plan. The Supplemental & Group Benefits segment offers employer-sponsored products including accident, critical illness, limited-benefit fixed indemnity insurance, term life, and short-term and long-term disability, as well as worksite direct products, such as supplemental heart, cancer, disability, and accident coverage. The company was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Springfield, Illinois.

About Skyward Specialty Insurance Group

Skyward Specialty Insurance Group, Inc., an insurance holding company, underwrites commercial property and casualty insurance products in the United States. It offers general liability, excess liability, professional liability, commercial auto, group accident and health, property, surety, and workers' compensation insurance products. Skyward Specialty Insurance Group, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.