Contrasting Acacia Research (NASDAQ:ACTG) & Wolters Kluwer (OTCMKTS:WTKWY)

Acacia Research (NASDAQ:ACTG) and Wolters Kluwer (OTCMKTS:WTKWY) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Acacia Research and Wolters Kluwer’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Acacia Research	7.60%	4.11%	3.05%
Wolters Kluwer	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Acacia Research and Wolters Kluwer”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Acacia Research	$285.23 million	1.64	$21.68 million	$0.23	21.04
Wolters Kluwer	$6.93 billion	2.39	$1.48 billion	N/A	N/A

Wolters Kluwer has higher revenue and earnings than Acacia Research.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

86.7% of Acacia Research shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Wolters Kluwer shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Acacia Research 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Acacia Research and Wolters Kluwer, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Acacia Research	0	1	1	0	2.50
Wolters Kluwer	1	0	3	0	2.50

Acacia Research currently has a consensus price target of $6.00, suggesting a potential upside of 23.97%. Given Acacia Research’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Acacia Research is more favorable than Wolters Kluwer.

Dividends

Acacia Research pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.3%. Wolters Kluwer pays an annual dividend of $1.87 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Acacia Research pays out 217.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Volatility and Risk

Acacia Research has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wolters Kluwer has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Acacia Research beats Wolters Kluwer on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Acacia Research

Acacia is a publicly traded (Nasdaq: ACTG) company that is focused on acquiring and operating businesses across the industrial, energy and technology sectors where it believes it can leverage its expertise, significant capital base, and deep industry relationships to drive value. Acacia evaluates opportunities based on the attractiveness of the underlying cash flows, without regard to a specific investment horizon. Acacia operates its businesses based on three key principles of people, process, and performance and has built a management team with demonstrated expertise in research, transactions and execution, and operations and management.

About Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer N.V. provides professional information, software solutions, and services in the Netherlands, rest of Europe, the United States, Canada, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company operates through Health; Tax & Accounting; Financial & Corporate Compliance; Legal & Regulatory; and Corporate Performance & ESG segments. The Health segment offers clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that drive effective decision-making and improved outcomes across healthcare. It serves hospitals, healthcare organizations, clinicians, students, schools, libraries, payers, life sciences, and pharmacies. The Tax & Accounting segment offers solutions that help tax, accounting, and audit professionals to drive productivity, navigate change, and deliver better outcomes. It serves accounting firms, tax and auditing departments, businesses of all sizes, government agencies, libraries, and universities. The Financial & Corporate Compliance segment offers solutions for legal entity compliance and banking product compliance. It serves corporations, small businesses, law firms, banks, non-bank lenders, credit unions, insurers, and securities firms. The Legal & Regulatory segment provides information, insights, and workflow solutions for changing regulatory obligations, managing risk, and increasing efficiency. It provides solutions for legal and compliance professionals in law firms, corporate legal departments, universities, and government organizations. The Corporate Performance & ESG segment offers enterprise software to drive financial and sustainability performance and manage risks, meet reporting requirements, improve safety and productivity, and reduce environmental impact. It serves corporate finance, audit, planning, risk, environmental, health and safety, operational risk management, and sustainability professionals in corporations, banks, and governments. Wolters Kluwer N.V. was founded in 1836 and is based in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.