Hennessy Advisors (NASDAQ:HNNA) and Acadian Asset Management (NYSE:AAMI) Head to Head Comparison

Hennessy Advisors (NASDAQ:HNNA) and Acadian Asset Management (NYSE:AAMI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Risk and Volatility

Hennessy Advisors has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acadian Asset Management has a beta of 1.46, indicating that its share price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Hennessy Advisors and Acadian Asset Management’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hennessy Advisors	26.64%	7.92%	4.78%
Acadian Asset Management	16.81%	1,000.27%	18.11%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Hennessy Advisors and Acadian Asset Management, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hennessy Advisors	0	0	0	0	0.00
Acadian Asset Management	0	1	0	0	2.00

Acadian Asset Management has a consensus target price of $27.00, suggesting a potential upside of 7.23%. Given Acadian Asset Management’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Acadian Asset Management is more favorable than Hennessy Advisors.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Hennessy Advisors and Acadian Asset Management”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hennessy Advisors	$29.65 million	3.15	$7.10 million	$0.92	13.04
Acadian Asset Management	$505.60 million	1.86	$65.80 million	$2.24	11.24

Acadian Asset Management has higher revenue and earnings than Hennessy Advisors. Acadian Asset Management is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hennessy Advisors, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

10.3% of Hennessy Advisors shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.7% of Acadian Asset Management shares are owned by institutional investors. 37.4% of Hennessy Advisors shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 27.7% of Acadian Asset Management shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Hennessy Advisors pays an annual dividend of $0.55 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Acadian Asset Management pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Hennessy Advisors pays out 59.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Acadian Asset Management pays out 1.8% 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.

Summary

Acadian Asset Management beats Hennessy Advisors on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hennessy Advisors

Hennessy Advisors, Inc. is an employee owned investment manager. It provides its services to Hennessy Funds and investment companies. The firm launches and manages equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds. It invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe. The firm primarily invests in growth stocks of companies. It conducts in-house research to make its investments. Hennessy Advisors, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is based in Novato, California with additional offices in Boston, Massachusetts and Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

About Acadian Asset Management

Acadian Asset Management Inc. is a publically owned asset management holding company. The firm provides its services to individuals and institutions. It manages separate client focused portfolios through its subsidiaries. The firm also launches equity mutual funds for its clients. It invests in public equity, fixed income, and alternative investment markets through its subsidiaries. The firm was founded in 1980 is based Boston, Massachusetts. It was formally known as BrightSphere Investment Group plc. BrightSphere Investment Group Inc. was formed in 1980 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.