Contrasting Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) & Legal & General Group (OTCMKTS:LGGNY)

Legal & General Group (OTCMKTS:LGGNY) and Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Legal & General Group and Assurant’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Legal & General Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Assurant	5.83%	16.47%	2.47%

Dividends

Legal & General Group pays an annual dividend of $0.77 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Assurant pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Assurant pays out 19.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Assurant has raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Legal & General Group and Assurant”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Legal & General Group	$13.51 billion	1.36	$244.08 million	N/A	N/A
Assurant	$12.57 billion	0.90	$760.20 million	$16.43	13.64

Assurant has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Legal & General Group.

Volatility and Risk

Legal & General Group has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Assurant has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.0% of Legal & General Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of Assurant shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Assurant shares are owned by 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 Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Legal & General Group and Assurant, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Legal & General Group	2	3	0	0	1.60
Assurant	0	2	8	0	2.80

Assurant has a consensus target price of $243.83, indicating a potential upside of 8.82%. Given Assurant’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Assurant is more favorable than Legal & General Group.

Summary

Assurant beats Legal & General Group on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Legal & General Group

Legal & General Group Plc provides various insurance products and services in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates in Legal & General Retirement Institutional (LGRI), Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), Legal & General Capital (LGC), and Retail segments. The LGRI segment offers annuity contracts with guaranteed income for a specified time; and longevity insurance products. The LGIM segment offers index fund management; active fixed income funds and liquidity funds; active equity management; solution and liability driven investment; multi-asset funds; corporate pension scheme solutions; and real assets. The LGC segment provides investment strategy and implementation, and direct investment and structuring services. The Retail segment offers protection products, such as health, disability, critical illness, and accident; individual term assurance; reinsurance; savings and death benefits; annuities; lifetime mortgages; lifetime care plans; retirement interest only mortgages; and workplace savings scheme that provides corporate pension scheme solutions. It is also involved in the unit trust and institutional fund management, mortgage finance, treasury, building project and modular housing development, general insurance, and open-ended investment businesses. In addition, the company engages in the investment, operation, management, trading, and letting and operation of leased real estate; and construction of commercial buildings, financial intermediation, pension tracing and transfer, insurance agents and brokers, fund general partner, commercial lending, venture capital investing, contractual scheme, investor alternative investment fund, collective asset-management, and investment management activities; and provision of investment advisory, business information consultancy, and technology services. Legal & General Group Plc was founded in 1836 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

About Assurant

Assurant, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides business services that supports, protects, and connects consumer purchases in North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through two segments: Global Lifestyle and Global Housing. The Global Lifestyle segment offers mobile device solutions, and extended service contracts and related services for consumer electronics and appliances, and credit and other insurance products; and vehicle protection, commercial equipment, and other related services. The Global Housing segment provides lender-placed homeowners, manufactured housing, and flood insurance; renters insurance and related products; and voluntary manufactured housing, and condominium and homeowners insurance products. The company was formerly known as Fortis, Inc. and changed its name to Assurant, Inc. in February 2004. Assurant, Inc. was founded in 1892 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.