American Financial Group (AFG) Competitors

American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG) and The Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE:HIG) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, media sentiment, community ranking and earnings.

Which has more volatility and risk, AFG or HIG?

American Financial Group has a beta of 0.59, suggesting that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The Hartford Financial Services Group has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AFG or HIG more profitable?

The Hartford Financial Services Group has a net margin of 11.72% compared to American Financial Group's net margin of 10.66%. American Financial Group's return on equity of 20.30% beat The Hartford Financial Services Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Financial Group	10.66%	20.30%	2.93%
The Hartford Financial Services Group	11.72%	19.55%	3.88%

Do analysts recommend AFG or HIG?

American Financial Group currently has a consensus target price of $139.00, suggesting a potential upside of 9.86%. The Hartford Financial Services Group has a consensus target price of $126.87, suggesting a potential upside of 3.44%. Given American Financial Group's higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe American Financial Group is more favorable than The Hartford Financial Services Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Financial Group	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
The Hartford Financial Services Group	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, AFG or HIG?

The Hartford Financial Services Group has higher revenue and earnings than American Financial Group. American Financial Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than The Hartford Financial Services Group, 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
American Financial Group	$8.28B	1.28	$887M	$10.57	11.97
The Hartford Financial Services Group	$26.76B	1.30	$3.11B	$10.03	12.23

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of AFG or HIG?

64.4% of American Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.4% of The Hartford Financial Services Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.4% of American Financial Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of The Hartford Financial Services Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer AFG or HIG?

In the previous week, The Hartford Financial Services Group had 24 more articles in the media than American Financial Group. MarketBeat recorded 38 mentions for The Hartford Financial Services Group and 14 mentions for American Financial Group. American Financial Group's average media sentiment score of 1.18 beat The Hartford Financial Services Group's score of 0.83 indicating that American Financial Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
American Financial Group	10 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
The Hartford Financial Services Group	15 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is AFG or HIG a better dividend stock?

American Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. The Hartford Financial Services Group pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. American Financial Group pays out 30.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. The Hartford Financial Services Group pays out 20.7% 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. American Financial Group has increased its dividend for 19 consecutive years and The Hartford Financial Services Group has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. American Financial Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AFG or HIG?

The Hartford Financial Services Group received 353 more outperform votes than American Financial Group when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.34% of users gave The Hartford Financial Services Group an outperform vote while only 59.55% of users gave American Financial Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
American Financial Group	Outperform Votes 321 59.55%	Underperform Votes 218 40.45%
The Hartford Financial Services Group	Outperform Votes 674 66.34%	Underperform Votes 342 33.66%

Summary

The Hartford Financial Services Group beats American Financial Group on 14 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.