Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) versus Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) Critical Comparison

Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) and Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, profitability and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Principal Financial Group and Unum Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Principal Financial Group	5	8	0	0	1.62
Unum Group	0	5	5	0	2.50

Principal Financial Group presently has a consensus target price of $76.54, indicating a potential downside of 0.52%. Unum Group has a consensus target price of $53.78, indicating a potential upside of 11.02%. Given Unum Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Unum Group is more favorable than Principal Financial Group.

Profitability

This table compares Principal Financial Group and Unum Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Principal Financial Group	11.52%	15.85%	0.54%
Unum Group	11.90%	15.10%	2.22%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

70.7% of Principal Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.4% of Unum Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Principal Financial Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Unum Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Principal Financial Group and Unum Group’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Principal Financial Group	$17.49 billion	1.06	$4.81 billion	$6.47	11.89
Unum Group	$11.99 billion	0.79	$1.31 billion	$7.21	6.72

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

Risk & Volatility

Principal Financial Group has a beta of 1.31, meaning that its share price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unum Group has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Principal Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $2.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Unum Group pays an annual dividend of $1.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Principal Financial Group pays out 40.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Unum Group pays out 20.2% 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. Principal Financial Group has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Unum Group has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Summary

Unum Group beats Principal Financial Group on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Principal Financial Group

Principal Financial Group, Inc. provides retirement, asset management, and insurance products and services to businesses, individuals, and institutional clients worldwide. The company operates through Retirement and Income Solutions, Principal Global Investors, Principal International, and U.S. Insurance Solutions segments. The Retirement and Income Solutions segment provides retirement, and related financial products and services. It offers products and services for defined contribution plans, including 401(k) and 403(b) plans, defined benefit plans, nonqualified executive benefit plans, employee stock ownership plans, equity compensation, and pension risk transfer services; individual retirement accounts; investment only products; and mutual funds, individual variable annuities, and bank products, as well as trust and custody services. The Principal Global Investors segment provides equity, fixed income, real estate, and other alternative investments, as well as asset allocation, stable value management, and other structured investment strategies. The Principal International segment offers pension accumulation products and services, mutual funds, asset management, income annuities, and life insurance accumulation products, as well as voluntary savings plans in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and Southeast Asia. The U.S. Insurance Solutions segment provides specialty benefits, such as group dental and vision insurance, group life insurance, and group and individual disability insurance, as well as administers group dental, disability, and vision benefits; and individual life insurance products comprising universal, variable universal, indexed universal, and term life insurance products in the United States. It also offers insurance solutions for small and medium-sized businesses and their owners, as well as executives. Principal Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1879 and is based in Des Moines, Iowa.

About Unum Group

Unum Group, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial protection benefit solutions primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, and internationally. It operates through Unum US, Unum International, Colonial Life, and Closed Block and Corporate segments. The company offers group long-term and short-term disability, group life, and accidental death and dismemberment products; supplemental and voluntary products, such as individual disability, voluntary benefits, and dental and vision products; and accident, sickness, disability, life, and cancer and critical illness products. It also provides group pension, individual life and corporate-owned life insurance, reinsurance pools and management operations, and other miscellaneous products. The company sells its products primarily to employers for the benefit of employees. Unum Group sells its products through field sales personnel, independent brokers, consultants, and independent contractor agency sales force. Unum Group was founded in 1848 and is based in Chattanooga, Tennessee.