Prudential Financial (PRU) Competitors

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) and Aflac (NYSE:AFL) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, media sentiment, community ranking, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability and earnings.

Which has more risk & volatility, PRU or AFL?

Prudential Financial has a beta of 1.29, meaning that its stock price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aflac has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, PRU or AFL?

Aflac has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Prudential Financial. Prudential Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Aflac, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Prudential Financial	$50.89B	0.83	$2.49B	$11.25	10.57
Aflac	$17.43B	3.27	$4.66B	$6.64	15.47

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in PRU or AFL?

56.8% of Prudential Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.4% of Aflac shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Prudential Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Aflac shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer PRU or AFL?

In the previous week, Aflac had 9 more articles in the media than Prudential Financial. MarketBeat recorded 19 mentions for Aflac and 10 mentions for Prudential Financial. Aflac's average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat Prudential Financial's score of 1.23 indicating that Aflac is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Prudential Financial	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Aflac	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is PRU or AFL a better dividend stock?

Prudential Financial pays an annual dividend of $5.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Aflac pays an annual dividend of $2.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Prudential Financial pays out 46.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Aflac pays out 34.9% 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. Prudential Financial has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years. Prudential Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts prefer PRU or AFL?

Prudential Financial currently has a consensus target price of $126.33, suggesting a potential upside of 6.28%. Aflac has a consensus target price of $98.73, suggesting a potential downside of 3.91%. Given Prudential Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Prudential Financial is more favorable than Aflac.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prudential Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.23
Aflac	3 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Is PRU or AFL more profitable?

Aflac has a net margin of 22.02% compared to Prudential Financial's net margin of 6.03%. Aflac's return on equity of 16.34% beat Prudential Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prudential Financial	6.03%	15.30%	0.63%
Aflac	22.02%	16.34%	3.15%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer PRU or AFL?

Prudential Financial received 274 more outperform votes than Aflac when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.23% of users gave Prudential Financial an outperform vote while only 56.62% of users gave Aflac an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Prudential Financial	Outperform Votes 851 64.23%	Underperform Votes 474 35.77%
Aflac	Outperform Votes 577 56.62%	Underperform Votes 442 43.38%

Summary

Aflac beats Prudential Financial on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.