MetLife (MET) Competitors

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

Do insiders and institutionals believe in AFL or MET?

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

Which has more risk and volatility, AFL or MET?

Aflac has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MetLife has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AFL or MET a better dividend stock?

Aflac pays an annual dividend of $2.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. MetLife pays an annual dividend of $2.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Aflac pays out 52.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MetLife pays out 38.5% 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. MetLife is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media prefer AFL or MET?

In the previous week, Aflac had 9 more articles in the media than MetLife. MarketBeat recorded 43 mentions for Aflac and 34 mentions for MetLife. MetLife's average media sentiment score of 0.79 beat Aflac's score of 0.77 indicating that MetLife is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Aflac	21 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	3 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
MetLife	19 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate AFL or MET?

Aflac currently has a consensus price target of $110.17, suggesting a potential downside of 1.52%. MetLife has a consensus price target of $95.18, suggesting a potential upside of 16.05%. Given MetLife's stronger consensus rating and higher probable 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)	7 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.15
MetLife	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.92

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, 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	$18.93B	3.16	$5.44B	$4.41	25.37
MetLife	$70.99B	0.77	$4.43B	$5.90	13.90

Is AFL or MET more profitable?

Aflac has a net margin of 15.32% compared to MetLife's net margin of 5.83%. MetLife's return on equity of 19.88% beat Aflac's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aflac	15.32%	15.08%	3.21%
MetLife	5.83%	19.88%	0.82%

Summary

MetLife beats Aflac on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.