PICC Property and Casualty (OTCMKTS:PPCCY) & Kingstone Companies (NASDAQ:KINS) Critical Review

Kingstone Companies (NASDAQ:KINS) and PICC Property and Casualty (OTCMKTS:PPCCY) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Kingstone Companies and PICC Property and Casualty’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kingstone Companies	14.85%	30.78%	7.99%
PICC Property and Casualty	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Kingstone Companies pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. PICC Property and Casualty pays an annual dividend of $9.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 19.5%. Kingstone Companies pays out 9.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. PICC Property and Casualty pays out 49.9% 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Kingstone Companies and PICC Property and Casualty, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kingstone Companies	0	2	0	0	2.00
PICC Property and Casualty	0	0	0	0	0.00

Institutional & Insider Ownership

14.9% of Kingstone Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.3% of Kingstone Companies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kingstone Companies and PICC Property and Casualty”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kingstone Companies	$214.87 million	1.32	$40.77 million	$2.42	8.09
PICC Property and Casualty	N/A	N/A	N/A	$19.70	2.56

Kingstone Companies has higher revenue and earnings than PICC Property and Casualty. PICC Property and Casualty is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kingstone Companies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Kingstone Companies beats PICC Property and Casualty on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kingstone Companies

Kingstone Companies, Inc., through its subsidiary, provides property and casualty insurance products to individuals in the United States. It offers personal line of insurance products, such as homeowners and dwelling fire, cooperative/condominiums, renters, and personal umbrella policies. The company also provides for-hire vehicle physical damage only policies for livery and car service vehicles and taxicabs; and canine legal liability policies. In addition, it offers reinsurance products. The company underwrites its products through retail and wholesale agents and brokers. The company was formerly known as DCAP Group, Inc. and changed its name to Kingstone Companies, Inc. in July 2009. Kingstone Companies, Inc. was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Kingston, New York.

About PICC Property and Casualty

PICC Property and Casualty Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a property and casualty insurance company in the People's Republic of China. It operates through Motor Vehicle, Accidental Injury and Health, Agriculture, Liability, Commercial Property, and Others segments. The company offers accidental injury and medical expenses, short-term health, homeowners, special risk, marine hull, construction, household property, cargo, credit and surety, accidental injury, and other insurance products. It also provides reinsurance, investment and funds application, insurance and claim handling agency, training, information technology and business, and property management services. The company was incorporated in 2003 and is based in Beijing, China. PICC Property and Casualty Company Limited operates as a subsidiary of The People's Insurance Company (Group) of China Limited.