Prudential Financial (PRU) Competitors

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

Is PRU or AFL more profitable?

Aflac has a net margin of 28.76% compared to Prudential Financial's net margin of 4.01%. Aflac's return on equity of 16.20% beat Prudential Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prudential Financial	4.01%	15.86%	0.64%
Aflac	28.76%	16.20%	3.32%

Which has more risk and volatility, PRU or AFL?

Prudential Financial has a beta of 1.11, meaning that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aflac has a beta of 0.84, meaning that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, PRU or AFL?

Aflac has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Prudential Financial. Prudential Financial 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
Prudential Financial	$70.65B	0.52	$2.73B	$7.47	13.87
Aflac	$17.09B	3.37	$5.44B	$6.40	16.49

Do analysts recommend PRU or AFL?

Prudential Financial currently has a consensus price target of $121.77, indicating a potential upside of 17.54%. Aflac has a consensus price target of $104.00, indicating a potential downside of 1.43%. Given Prudential Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Prudential Financial is more favorable than Aflac.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prudential Financial	1 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.15
Aflac	2 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in PRU or AFL?

56.8% of Prudential Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.4% of Aflac shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Prudential Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Aflac shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor PRU or AFL?

Prudential Financial received 272 more outperform votes than Aflac when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.32% of users gave Prudential Financial an outperform vote while only 55.78% of users gave Aflac an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Prudential Financial	Outperform Votes 851 63.32%	Underperform Votes 493 36.68%
Aflac	Outperform Votes 579 55.78%	Underperform Votes 459 44.22%

Does the media prefer PRU or AFL?

In the previous week, Prudential Financial had 3 more articles in the media than Aflac. MarketBeat recorded 36 mentions for Prudential Financial and 33 mentions for Aflac. Prudential Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.82 beat Aflac's score of 0.63 indicating that Prudential Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Prudential Financial	16 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	11 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Aflac	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is PRU or AFL a better dividend stock?

Prudential Financial pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. Aflac pays an annual dividend of $2.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Prudential Financial pays out 72.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Aflac pays out 36.2% 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 raised its dividend for 44 consecutive years.

Summary

Prudential Financial beats Aflac on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.