Aflac (NYSE:AFL) & Allstate (NYSE:ALL) Head-To-Head Analysis

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) and Allstate (NYSE:ALL) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Aflac and Allstate’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aflac	26.91%	13.27%	3.34%
Allstate	18.97%	41.64%	9.82%

Risk & Volatility

Aflac has a beta of 0.59, indicating that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Allstate has a beta of 0.15, indicating that its share price is 85% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

67.4% of Aflac shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.5% of Allstate shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Aflac shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Allstate shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Aflac and Allstate”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aflac	$18.29 billion	3.16	$3.65 billion	$9.33	12.36
Allstate	$69.35 billion	0.93	$10.28 billion	$50.08	5.07

Allstate has higher revenue and earnings than Aflac. Allstate is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Aflac, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Aflac pays an annual dividend of $2.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Allstate pays an annual dividend of $4.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Aflac pays out 26.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Allstate pays out 8.6% 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. Aflac has increased its dividend for 44 consecutive years and Allstate has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Aflac is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Aflac and Allstate, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aflac	3	7	3	1	2.14
Allstate	4	9	5	4	2.41

Aflac currently has a consensus target price of $116.62, suggesting a potential upside of 1.16%. Allstate has a consensus target price of $263.90, suggesting a potential upside of 3.99%. Given Allstate’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Allstate is more favorable than Aflac.

Summary

Allstate beats Aflac on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. The company operates through Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. segments. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care, work leave, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan. The Aflac U.S. segment provides cancer, accident, short-term disability, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental, vision, long-term care and disability, and term and whole life insurance products in the United States. It sells its products through sales associates, brokers, independent corporate agencies, individual agencies, and affiliated corporate agencies. Aflac Incorporated was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Columbus, Georgia.

About Allstate

The Allstate Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides property and casualty, and other insurance products in the United States and Canada. It operates in five segments: Allstate Protection; Protection Services; Allstate Health and Benefits; Run-off Property-Liability; and Corporate and Other segments. The Allstate Protection segment offers private passenger auto and homeowners insurance; other personal lines products; and commercial lines products through agents, contact centers, and online. The Protection Services segment provides consumer product protection; protection and insurance products, including vehicle service contracts, guaranteed asset protection, road hazard tire and wheel, and paintless dent repair protection; and roadside assistance, device and mobile data collection services, and analytic solutions using automotive telematics information, as well as identity theft protection and remediation services. This segment also offers its products under various brands, including Allstate Protection Plans, Allstate Dealer Services, Allstate Roadside, Arity, Avail, and Allstate Identity Protection. The Allstate Health and Benefits segment provides life, accident, critical illness, short-term disability, and other health insurance products; stop-loss and fully insured group health products to employers; and short-term medical and medicare supplement insurance to individuals. The Run-off Property-Liability segment offers property and casualty insurance coverage that primarily relates to policies written during the 1960s through the mid-1980s. The Corporate and Other segment provides debt services, as well as non-insurance operations. It sells its products through agents, independent agents, call and contact centers, retailers, direct to consumer, wholesale partners, and affinity groups, as well as through online and mobile applications. The Allstate Corporation was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois.