Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) vs. AXA (OTCMKTS:AXAHY) Critical Survey

Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) and AXA (OTCMKTS:AXAHY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

99.3% of Horace Mann Educators shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.1% of AXA shares are held by institutional investors. 4.0% of Horace Mann Educators shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Horace Mann Educators has a beta of 0.04, meaning that its share price is 96% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AXA has a beta of 0.64, meaning that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Horace Mann Educators and AXA, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Horace Mann Educators	0	1	2	1	3.00
AXA	0	0	2	0	3.00

Horace Mann Educators presently has a consensus target price of $47.33, indicating a potential upside of 6.40%. Given Horace Mann Educators’ higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Horace Mann Educators is more favorable than AXA.

Profitability

This table compares Horace Mann Educators and AXA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Horace Mann Educators	9.53%	13.92%	1.31%
AXA	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Horace Mann Educators pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. AXA pays an annual dividend of $1.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Horace Mann Educators pays out 36.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Horace Mann Educators has increased its dividend for 17 consecutive years.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Horace Mann Educators and AXA”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Horace Mann Educators	$1.70 billion	1.06	$162.10 million	$3.90	11.41
AXA	$84.92 billion	1.29	$11.08 billion	N/A	N/A

AXA has higher revenue and earnings than Horace Mann Educators.

Summary

Horace Mann Educators beats AXA on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Horace Mann Educators

Horace Mann Educators Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an insurance holding company in the United States. The company operates through Property & Casualty, Life & Retirement, and Supplemental & Group Benefits segments. Its Property & Casualty segment offers insurance products, including private passenger auto insurance, residential home insurance, and personal umbrella insurance; and provides auto coverages including liability and collision, and property coverage for homeowners and renters. The Life & Retirement segment markets tax-qualified fixed, fixed indexed, and variable annuities; and internal revenue code for educator, which allows public school employees and employees of other tax-exempt organizations, such as not-for-profit private schools, to utilize pretax income to make periodic contributions to a qualified retirement plan. The Supplemental & Group Benefits segment offers employer-sponsored products including accident, critical illness, limited-benefit fixed indemnity insurance, term life, and short-term and long-term disability, as well as worksite direct products, such as supplemental heart, cancer, disability, and accident coverage. The company was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Springfield, Illinois.

About AXA

AXA SA, through its subsidiaries, provides insurance, asset management, and banking services worldwide. The company operates through six segments: France; Europe; AXA XL; Asia, Africa & EME-LATAM; AXA Investment Managers; and Transversal & Other segments It offers life and savings insurance products, such as savings and retirement, other health, and personal protection products. The company also provides property and casualty insurance products, including car, home, and personal or professional liability to individual and business clients; international insurance for large corporate clients in Europe; and marine and aviation insurance services, as well as property and casualty reinsurance products. In addition, it offers asset management services in the areas of various asset classes, including equities, bonds, hedge funds, private equity, and real estate for the group’s insurance companies and their clients, and retail and institutional clients. Further, the company provides motor, household, property and general liability, health, term life, whole life, universal life, endowment, deferred and immediate annuities, and other investment-based products for personal/individual and commercial/ group customers. AXA SA was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in Paris, France.