Aflac (AFL) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate AFL or MET?

Aflac currently has a consensus price target of $104.57, indicating a potential upside of 0.92%. MetLife has a consensus price target of $94.17, indicating a potential upside of 20.84%. Given MetLife's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe MetLife 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
MetLife	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.92

Does the media prefer AFL or MET?

In the previous week, MetLife had 31 more articles in the media than Aflac. MarketBeat recorded 59 mentions for MetLife and 28 mentions for Aflac. Aflac's average media sentiment score of 1.12 beat MetLife's score of 0.76 indicating that Aflac is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Aflac	21 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
MetLife	25 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	23 Neutral mention(s)	6 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

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

67.4% of Aflac shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.0% of MetLife shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Aflac shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of MetLife shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer AFL or MET?

MetLife received 388 more outperform votes than Aflac when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 74.04% of users gave MetLife an outperform vote while only 55.57% of users gave Aflac an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Aflac	Outperform Votes 579 55.57%	Underperform Votes 463 44.43%
MetLife	Outperform Votes 967 74.04%	Underperform Votes 339 25.96%

Which has more risk and volatility, AFL or MET?

Aflac has a beta of 0.84, suggesting that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MetLife has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, AFL or MET?

Aflac has higher earnings, but lower revenue than MetLife. MetLife 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
Aflac	$17.14B	3.27	$5.44B	$6.40	16.19
MetLife	$72.28B	0.72	$4.43B	$6.15	12.67

Is AFL or MET more profitable?

Aflac has a net margin of 28.76% compared to MetLife's net margin of 6.19%. MetLife's return on equity of 20.42% beat Aflac's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aflac	28.76%	16.20%	3.32%
MetLife	6.19%	20.42%	0.86%

Is AFL or MET a better dividend stock?

Aflac pays an annual dividend of $2.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. MetLife pays an annual dividend of $2.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Aflac pays out 36.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MetLife pays out 36.9% 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. Aflac has increased its dividend for 44 consecutive years and MetLife has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Summary

MetLife beats Aflac on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.