Aegon (NYSE:AEG) and Legal & General Group (OTCMKTS:LGGNY) Critical Review

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

4.3% of Aegon shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Legal & General Group shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aegon	$26.86 billion	0.60	$1.11 billion	($0.16)	-50.12
Legal & General Group	$12.16 billion	1.59	$780.67 million	N/A	N/A

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aegon	N/A	N/A	N/A
Legal & General Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Aegon and Legal & General Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aegon	0	3	3	1	2.71
Legal & General Group	2	3	0	0	1.60

Aegon currently has a consensus price target of $10.00, suggesting a potential upside of 24.70%. Given Aegon’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Aegon is more favorable than Legal & General Group.

Dividends

Aegon pays an annual dividend of $0.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. Legal & General Group pays an annual dividend of $0.77 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. Aegon pays out -262.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Risk and Volatility

Aegon has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Legal & General Group has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Aegon beats Legal & General Group on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aegon

Aegon Ltd. provides insurance, pensions, retirement, and asset management services in the United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company offers life, accident, property and casualty, and health insurance; annuities, retirement plans, mutual funds, and stable value solutions; residential mortgage and digital baking services; and retail and institutional investment management solutions and retirement savings vehicles and strategies. It offers its products under the Aegon and Transamerica brands. Aegon Ltd. was founded in 1844 and is headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands.

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.