Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) Competitors

Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) and Banco Santander (LON:BNC) are both large-cap financial services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, media sentiment and institutional ownership.

Which has better earnings & valuation, LLOY or BNC?

Banco Santander has higher revenue and earnings than Lloyds Banking Group. Lloyds Banking Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Banco Santander, 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
Lloyds Banking Group	£28.75B	1.75	£4.79B	£7.91	10.49
Banco Santander	£70.85B	1.82	£14.20B	£63.81	11.00

Is LLOY or BNC more profitable?

Banco Santander has a net margin of 20.05% compared to Lloyds Banking Group's net margin of 16.66%. Banco Santander's return on equity of 12.99% beat Lloyds Banking Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lloyds Banking Group	16.66%	11.22%	0.57%
Banco Santander	20.05%	12.99%	0.73%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in LLOY or BNC?

50.2% of Lloyds Banking Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.0% of Banco Santander shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Lloyds Banking Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Banco Santander shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is LLOY or BNC a better dividend stock?

Lloyds Banking Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 3 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Banco Santander pays an annual dividend of GBX 17 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Lloyds Banking Group pays out 37.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Banco Santander pays out 26.6% 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.

Do analysts recommend LLOY or BNC?

Lloyds Banking Group presently has a consensus target price of GBX 86.80, suggesting a potential upside of 4.63%. Given Lloyds Banking Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Lloyds Banking Group is more favorable than Banco Santander.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lloyds Banking Group	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
Banco Santander	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Does the media refer more to LLOY or BNC?

In the previous week, Lloyds Banking Group had 20 more articles in the media than Banco Santander. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for Lloyds Banking Group and 4 mentions for Banco Santander. Banco Santander's average media sentiment score of 1.04 beat Lloyds Banking Group's score of 0.47 indicating that Banco Santander is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Lloyds Banking Group	7 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Banco Santander	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, LLOY or BNC?

Lloyds Banking Group has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Banco Santander has a beta of 1.32, indicating that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Banco Santander beats Lloyds Banking Group on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.