Head to Head Analysis: Legal & General Group (OTCMKTS:LGGNY) versus Radian Group (NYSE:RDN)

Radian Group (NYSE:RDN) and Legal & General Group (OTCMKTS:LGGNY) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

95.3% of Radian Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Legal & General Group shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of Radian Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Radian Group	46.99%	13.07%	6.98%
Legal & General Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Radian Group pays an annual dividend of $1.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Legal & General Group pays an annual dividend of $0.77 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Radian Group pays out 24.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Radian Group has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Volatility and Risk

Radian Group has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Legal & General Group has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Radian Group	$1.20 billion	3.77	$582.64 million	$4.15	7.97
Legal & General Group	$12.16 billion	1.57	$780.56 million	N/A	N/A

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Radian Group and Legal & General Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Radian Group	1	2	3	1	2.57
Legal & General Group	1	4	0	0	1.80

Radian Group currently has a consensus price target of $40.60, suggesting a potential upside of 22.71%. Given Radian Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Radian Group is more favorable than Legal & General Group.

Summary

Radian Group beats Legal & General Group on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Radian Group

Radian Group Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mortgage and real estate services business in the United States. It operates through two segments, Mortgage Insurance and Homegenius segments. The Mortgage Insurance segment aggregates, manages, and distributes U.S. mortgage credit risk for mortgage lending institutions and mortgage credit investors, through private mortgage insurance on residential first-lien mortgage loans; and other credit risk management solutions, including contract underwriting. The Homegenius segment offers title services, including a suite of insurance and non-insurance titles; tax and title data, centralized recording, document retrieval, and default curative title services; deed and property reports; closing and settlement services; mortgage underwriting and processing; escrow; appraisal management; and real estate brokerage. This segment also provides real estate valuation products and services; asset management services for managing real estate owned properties, which includes a web-based workflow solution; and a suite of real estate technology products and services to facilitate real estate transactions, such as proprietary platforms as a service solution. It serves mortgage originators, such as mortgage bankers, commercial banks, savings institutions, credit unions, and community banks; and consumers, mortgage lenders, mortgage and real estate investors, government-sponsored enterprises, real estate brokers and agents, and corporations for their employees. The company was formerly known as CMAC Investment Corp. and changed its name to Radian Group Inc. in June 1999. Radian Group Inc. was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

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.