Ryan Specialty (NYSE:RYAN) vs. Kansas City Life Insurance (OTCMKTS:KCLI) Critical Contrast

Kansas City Life Insurance (OTCMKTS:KCLI) and Ryan Specialty (NYSE:RYAN) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Kansas City Life Insurance and Ryan Specialty’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kansas City Life Insurance	4.39%	3.29%	0.44%
Ryan Specialty	7.55%	43.97%	4.78%

Risk & Volatility

Kansas City Life Insurance has a beta of 0.39, suggesting that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ryan Specialty has a beta of 0.59, suggesting that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Kansas City Life Insurance and Ryan Specialty, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kansas City Life Insurance	0	0	0	0	0.00
Ryan Specialty	1	10	8	0	2.37

Ryan Specialty has a consensus target price of $53.86, suggesting a potential upside of 22.83%. Given Ryan Specialty’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ryan Specialty is more favorable than Kansas City Life Insurance.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Kansas City Life Insurance and Ryan Specialty”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kansas City Life Insurance	$485.45 million	0.71	-$20.76 million	$2.22	15.97
Ryan Specialty	$3.05 billion	3.68	$63.40 million	$0.72	60.90

Ryan Specialty has higher revenue and earnings than Kansas City Life Insurance. Kansas City Life Insurance is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ryan Specialty, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Kansas City Life Insurance pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Ryan Specialty pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Kansas City Life Insurance pays out 32.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ryan Specialty pays out 72.2% 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. Ryan Specialty has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Kansas City Life Insurance is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.1% of Kansas City Life Insurance shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.8% of Ryan Specialty shares are held by institutional investors. 63.1% of Kansas City Life Insurance shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 52.0% of Ryan Specialty shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Ryan Specialty beats Kansas City Life Insurance on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kansas City Life Insurance

Kansas City Life Insurance Company provides insurance products and services in states and the District of Columbia. It operates through three segments: Individual Insurance, Group Insurance, and Old American. The Individual Insurance segment consists of individual insurance products for Kansas City life, Grange life, and the assumed reinsurance transactions. The Group Insurance segment sells group life, dental, vision, disability, accident, and critical illness products. The Old American segment consists of individual insurance products designed for final expense products. Kansas City Life Insurance Company was incorporated in 1895 and is based in Kansas City, Missouri.

About Ryan Specialty

Ryan Specialty Holdings, Inc. operates as a service provider of specialty products and solutions for insurance brokers, agents, and carriers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Singapore. It offers distribution, underwriting, product development, administration, and risk management services by acting as a wholesale broker and a managing underwriter. The company serves commercial, industrial, institutional, and government sectors. Ryan Specialty Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.