Comparing American Coastal Insurance (NASDAQ:ACIC) & Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW)

American Coastal Insurance (NASDAQ:ACIC) and Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares American Coastal Insurance and Willis Towers Watson Public’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Coastal Insurance	30.31%	27.95%	8.20%
Willis Towers Watson Public	15.49%	22.19%	6.00%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

22.1% of American Coastal Insurance shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.1% of Willis Towers Watson Public shares are held by institutional investors. 49.2% of American Coastal Insurance shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Willis Towers Watson Public shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for American Coastal Insurance and Willis Towers Watson Public, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Coastal Insurance	0	2	1	1	2.75
Willis Towers Watson Public	0	6	10	0	2.62

American Coastal Insurance currently has a consensus price target of $13.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.43%. Willis Towers Watson Public has a consensus price target of $364.40, indicating a potential upside of 14.73%. Given American Coastal Insurance’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe American Coastal Insurance is more favorable than Willis Towers Watson Public.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares American Coastal Insurance and Willis Towers Watson Public”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Coastal Insurance	$335.44 million	1.56	$106.84 million	$2.01	5.51
Willis Towers Watson Public	$10.10 billion	2.92	$1.60 billion	$16.26	19.53

Willis Towers Watson Public has higher revenue and earnings than American Coastal Insurance. American Coastal Insurance is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Willis Towers Watson Public, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

American Coastal Insurance has a beta of -0.51, indicating that its stock price is 151% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Willis Towers Watson Public has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Willis Towers Watson Public beats American Coastal Insurance on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About American Coastal Insurance

American Coastal Insurance Corporation operates as a property and casualty insurance holding company that sources, writes, and services residential personal and commercial property, and casualty insurance policies in the United States. The company offers structure, content, and liability coverage for standard single-family homeowners, renters, and condominium unit owners. It also provides commercial multi-peril property insurance for residential condominium associations and apartments, as well as loss or damage to buildings, inventory, and equipment caused by fire, wind, hail, water, theft, and vandalism. In addition, the company offers equipment breakdown, identity theft, cyber security, and flood policies. The company markets and distributes its products through a network of independent agencies. The company was formerly known as United Insurance Holdings Corp. and changed its name to American Coastal Insurance Corporation in August 2023. American Coastal Insurance Corporation was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Saint Petersburg, Florida.

About Willis Towers Watson Public

Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company operates as an advisory, broking, and solutions company worldwide. It operates through two segments: Health, Wealth & Career and Risk & Broking. The company offers strategy and design consulting, plan management service and support, broking and administration services for health, wellbeing, and other group benefit program, including medical, dental, disability, life, voluntary benefits and other coverages; actuarial support, plan design, and administrative services for pension and retirement savings plans; retirement consulting services and solutions; and integrated solutions that consists of investment discretionary management, pension administration, core actuarial, and communication and change management assistance services. It also provides advice, data, software, and products to address clients' total rewards and talent issues; and risk advice, insurance brokerage, and consulting services in the areas of property and casualty, affinity, risk and analytics, aerospace, construction, global markets direct & facultative, financial, executive and professional risks, financial solutions, crisis management, surety, marine, and natural resources. In addition, the company offers integrated solutions that consists of investment discretionary management, pension administration, core actuarial, and communication and change management assistance services; and software and technology, risk and capital management, products and product pricing, financial and regulatory reporting, financial and capital modeling, M&A, outsourcing, and business management services. The company was formerly known as Willis Group Holdings Public Limited Company and changed its name to Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company in January 2016. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company was founded in 1828 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.