Prudential Financial (PRU) Competitors

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

Do institutionals & insiders believe in AFL or PRU?

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

Is AFL or PRU a better dividend stock?

Aflac pays an annual dividend of $2.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Prudential Financial pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. Aflac pays out 24.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Prudential Financial pays out 72.3% 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. Aflac has increased its dividend for 44 consecutive years.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer AFL or PRU?

Prudential Financial received 273 more outperform votes than Aflac when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.75% of users gave Prudential Financial an outperform vote while only 56.01% of users gave Aflac an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Aflac	Outperform Votes 578 56.01%	Underperform Votes 454 43.99%
Prudential Financial	Outperform Votes 851 63.75%	Underperform Votes 484 36.25%

Which has more volatility and risk, AFL or PRU?

Aflac has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Prudential Financial has a beta of 1.31, indicating that its share price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, AFL or PRU?

Aflac has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Prudential Financial. Aflac is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Prudential Financial, 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
Aflac	$18.93B	3.00	$5.44B	$9.60	10.63
Prudential Financial	$68.05B	0.58	$2.73B	$7.47	14.65

Does the media prefer AFL or PRU?

In the previous week, Aflac had 3 more articles in the media than Prudential Financial. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for Aflac and 24 mentions for Prudential Financial. Prudential Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.24 beat Aflac's score of 1.18 indicating that Prudential Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Aflac	19 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Prudential Financial	19 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is AFL or PRU more profitable?

Aflac has a net margin of 28.76% compared to Prudential Financial's net margin of 4.01%. Aflac's return on equity of 16.20% beat Prudential Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aflac	28.76%	16.20%	3.32%
Prudential Financial	4.01%	15.86%	0.64%

Do analysts recommend AFL or PRU?

Aflac currently has a consensus target price of $102.86, suggesting a potential upside of 0.80%. Prudential Financial has a consensus target price of $125.69, suggesting a potential upside of 14.84%. Given Prudential Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Prudential Financial is more favorable than Aflac.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aflac	2 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Prudential Financial	1 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.15

Summary

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