Head to Head Analysis: Equitable (NYSE:EQH) versus Legal & General Group (OTCMKTS:LGGNY)

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) and Legal & General Group (OTCMKTS:LGGNY) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends and earnings.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Equitable and Legal & General Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equitable	$13.64 billion	1.19	$1.31 billion	$1.24	43.63
Legal & General Group	$13.51 billion	1.37	$244.08 million	N/A	N/A

Equitable has higher revenue and earnings than Legal & General Group.

Profitability

This table compares Equitable and Legal & General Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equitable	3.51%	81.58%	0.65%
Legal & General Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.7% of Equitable shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Legal & General Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Equitable shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Equitable has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Legal & General Group has a beta of 1.23, suggesting that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Equitable pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Legal & General Group pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Equitable pays out 87.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Equitable has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Equitable and Legal & General Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equitable	0	1	9	0	2.90
Legal & General Group	1	3	0	0	1.75

Equitable presently has a consensus target price of $64.90, suggesting a potential upside of 19.97%. Given Equitable’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Equitable is more favorable than Legal & General Group.

Summary

Equitable beats Legal & General Group on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc., together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy. The Individual Retirement segment offers a suite of variable annuity products primarily to affluent and high net worth individuals. The Group Retirement segment provides tax-deferred investment and retirement services or products to plans sponsored by educational entities, municipalities, and not-for-profit entities, as well as small and medium-sized businesses. The Investment Management and Research segment offers diversified investment management, research, and related services to various clients through institutional. The Protection Solutions segment provides life insurance products, such as VUL insurance and IUL insurance, term life, and employee benefits business, such as dental, vision, life, as well as short- and long-term disability insurance products to small and medium-sized businesses. The Wealth Management segment offers discretionary and non-discretionary investment advisory accounts, financial planning and advice, life insurance, and annuity products. The Legacy segment consists of the capital intensive fixed-rate GMxB business that includes ROP death benefits. The company was formerly known as AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Equitable Holdings, Inc. in January 2020. Equitable Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1859 and is based in New York, New York.

About Legal & General Group

Legal & General Group Plc provides various insurance products and services in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates in Legal & General Retirement Institutional (LGRI), Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), Legal & General Capital (LGC), and Retail segments. The LGRI segment offers annuity contracts with guaranteed income for a specified time; and longevity insurance products. The LGIM segment offers index fund management; active fixed income funds and liquidity funds; active equity management; solution and liability driven investment; multi-asset funds; corporate pension scheme solutions; and real assets. The LGC segment provides investment strategy and implementation, and direct investment and structuring services. The Retail segment offers protection products, such as health, disability, critical illness, and accident; individual term assurance; reinsurance; savings and death benefits; annuities; lifetime mortgages; lifetime care plans; retirement interest only mortgages; and workplace savings scheme that provides corporate pension scheme solutions. It is also involved in the unit trust and institutional fund management, mortgage finance, treasury, building project and modular housing development, general insurance, and open-ended investment businesses. In addition, the company engages in the investment, operation, management, trading, and letting and operation of leased real estate; and construction of commercial buildings, financial intermediation, pension tracing and transfer, insurance agents and brokers, fund general partner, commercial lending, venture capital investing, contractual scheme, investor alternative investment fund, collective asset-management, and investment management activities; and provision of investment advisory, business information consultancy, and technology services. Legal & General Group Plc was founded in 1836 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.