AJ Bell (AJB) Competitors

AJ Bell (LON:AJB) and St. James's Place (LON:STJ) are both mid-cap financial services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and valuation.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of AJB or STJ?

49.9% of AJ Bell shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.6% of St. James's Place shares are owned by institutional investors. 29.6% of AJ Bell shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of St. James's Place shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has better earnings & valuation, AJB or STJ?

AJ Bell has higher earnings, but lower revenue than St. James's Place. St. James's Place is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AJ Bell, 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
AJ Bell	£244.77M	8.81	£81.11M	£19.55	26.74
St. James's Place	£26.27B	0.27	-£6.46M	-£1.19	-1,087.91

Is AJB or STJ more profitable?

AJ Bell has a net margin of 33.14% compared to St. James' Place's net margin of -0.02%. AJ Bell's return on equity of 42.30% beat St. James' Place's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AJ Bell	33.14%	42.30%	36.07%
St. James's Place	-0.02%	-0.63%	0.22%

Does the media refer more to AJB or STJ?

In the previous week, St. James's Place had 1 more articles in the media than AJ Bell. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for St. James's Place and 6 mentions for AJ Bell. AJ Bell's average media sentiment score of 0.65 beat St. James' Place's score of 0.54 indicating that AJ Bell is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AJ Bell	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
St. James's Place	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer AJB or STJ?

AJ Bell presently has a consensus price target of GBX 495, indicating a potential downside of 5.33%. St. James's Place has a consensus price target of GBX 1,408.75, indicating a potential upside of 8.53%. Given St. James' Place's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe St. James's Place is more favorable than AJ Bell.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AJ Bell	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20
St. James's Place	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Which has more volatility and risk, AJB or STJ?

AJ Bell has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, St. James's Place has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AJB or STJ a better dividend stock?

AJ Bell pays an annual dividend of GBX 12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. St. James's Place pays an annual dividend of GBX 14 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. AJ Bell pays out 61.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. St. James's Place pays out -1,173.4% 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

AJ Bell beats St. James's Place on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.