AON (NYSE:AON) and Hannover Ruck (OTCMKTS:HVRRY) Head to Head Survey

AON (NYSE:AON) and Hannover Ruck (OTCMKTS:HVRRY) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

AON has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hannover Ruck has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

AON pays an annual dividend of $2.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Hannover Ruck pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. AON pays out 25.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hannover Ruck pays out 24.5% 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. Hannover Ruck is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares AON and Hannover Ruck”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AON	$15.70 billion	4.86	$2.65 billion	$11.94	29.64
Hannover Ruck	$28.55 billion	1.22	$2.52 billion	$3.76	12.75

AON has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Hannover Ruck. Hannover Ruck is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AON, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares AON and Hannover Ruck’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AON	15.54%	50.91%	7.00%
Hannover Ruck	9.33%	19.77%	3.50%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for AON and Hannover Ruck, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AON	1	5	10	1	2.65
Hannover Ruck	1	1	0	2	2.75

AON presently has a consensus price target of $414.69, suggesting a potential upside of 17.18%. Given AON’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe AON is more favorable than Hannover Ruck.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

86.1% of AON shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Hannover Ruck shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of AON shares are owned by company 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.

Summary

AON beats Hannover Ruck on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AON

Aon Plc engages in the provision of risk, health, and wealth solutions. It focuses on risk capital including claim management, reinsurance, risk analysis, management, retention, and transfer; and human capital involving analytics, health and benefits, investments, pensions and retirement, talent and rewards, and workplace wellbeing. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

About Hannover Ruck

Hannover Rück SE, together with its subsidiaries, provides reinsurance products and services in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Europe, the United States, Asia, Australia, Africa, and internationally. It operates through Property & Casualty Reinsurance; and Life & Health Reinsurance segments. The company provides property and casualty reinsurance solutions for agricultural, livestock, and bloodstock; aviation and space; catastrophe XL; credit, surety, and political risks; facultative; and marine and offshore energy businesses, as well as insurance-linked securities and structured reinsurance. It offers risk solutions in the areas of critical illness, disability, health, longevity, long term care, and mortality. In addition, the company offers group life, retirement, lifestyle, credit life, and Takaful reinsurance products. Further, the company provides various financial solutions, including new-business financing; monetization of embedded value; reserve and solvency relief; and reinsurance and solvency II businesses. The company was formerly known as Hannover Rückversicherung AG and changed its name to Hannover Rück SE in March 2013. Hannover Rück SE was founded in 1966 and is based in Hanover, Germany. Hannover Rück SE operates as a subsidiary of Talanx AG.