Prudential Financial (PRU) Competitors

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

Which has more risk and volatility, PRU or AFL?

Prudential Financial has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aflac has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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.

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%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor PRU or AFL?

Prudential Financial received 271 more outperform votes than Aflac when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.04% of users gave Prudential Financial an outperform vote while only 55.61% of users gave Aflac an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Prudential Financial	Outperform Votes 851 63.04%	Underperform Votes 499 36.96%
Aflac	Outperform Votes 580 55.61%	Underperform Votes 463 44.39%

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, PRU or AFL?

Aflac has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Prudential Financial. Aflac is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Prudential Financial, 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	$60.62B	0.60	$2.73B	$6.31	16.30
Aflac	$17.14B	3.22	$5.44B	$6.40	15.95

Does the media refer more to PRU or AFL?

In the previous week, Aflac had 9 more articles in the media than Prudential Financial. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for Aflac and 14 mentions for Prudential Financial. Prudential Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.09 beat Aflac's score of 1.09 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	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Aflac	17 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 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 2.3%. Prudential Financial pays out 85.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Aflac pays out 36.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Prudential Financial has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Aflac has increased its dividend for 44 consecutive years.

Do analysts rate PRU or AFL?

Prudential Financial presently has a consensus target price of $120.15, suggesting a potential upside of 16.79%. Aflac has a consensus target price of $104.93, suggesting a potential upside of 2.82%. Given Prudential Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities 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)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.07

Summary

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