Comparing Westwood Holdings Group (NYSE:WHG) & Barings Participation Investors (NYSE:MPV)

Barings Participation Investors (NYSE:MPV) and Westwood Holdings Group (NYSE:WHG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Dividends

Barings Participation Investors pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.8%. Westwood Holdings Group pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Westwood Holdings Group pays out 75.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

56.6% of Westwood Holdings Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Barings Participation Investors shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.2% of Westwood Holdings Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Barings Participation Investors and Westwood Holdings Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Barings Participation Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A
Westwood Holdings Group	7.22%	8.30%	7.05%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Barings Participation Investors and Westwood Holdings Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Barings Participation Investors	0	0	0	0	0.00
Westwood Holdings Group	0	0	1	0	3.00

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Barings Participation Investors and Westwood Holdings Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Barings Participation Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Westwood Holdings Group	$97.76 million	1.63	$7.06 million	$0.79	21.44

Westwood Holdings Group has higher revenue and earnings than Barings Participation Investors.

Volatility and Risk

Barings Participation Investors has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westwood Holdings Group has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Westwood Holdings Group beats Barings Participation Investors on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Barings Participation Investors

Barings Participation Investors is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Barings LLC. The fund invests in the fixed income markets of the United States. It primarily invests in below-investment grade, long-term corporate debt obligations which are directly purchased from its issuers. The fund also seeks to invest in warrants, conversion rights, or other equity related instruments. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against Standard and Poor's Industrials Composite, Russell 2000 Index, Lehman Brothers U.S. High Yield Index, and Lehman Brothers Intermediate U.S. Credit Index. The fund was formerly known as Babson Capital Participation Investors. Barings Participation Investors was formed on April 7, 1988 and is domiciled in the United States.

About Westwood Holdings Group

Westwood Holdings Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, manages investment assets and provides services for its clients. The company operates in two segments, Advisory and Trust. The Advisory segment provides investment advisory services to corporate retirement plans, public retirement plans, endowments, foundations, individuals, and the Westwood Funds; and investment sub-advisory services to mutual funds, pooled investment vehicles, and its Trust segment. The Trust segment offers trust and custodial services; and participates in common trust funds that it sponsors to institutions and high net worth individuals. Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Dallas, Texas.