Contrasting AXA (OTCMKTS:AXAHY) and Legal & General Group (OTCMKTS:LGGNY)

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

Dividends

AXA pays an annual dividend of $1.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Legal & General Group pays an annual dividend of $0.77 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%.

Profitability

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

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

Volatility & Risk

AXA has a beta of 0.64, meaning that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Legal & General Group has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for AXA and Legal & General Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AXA	0	0	2	1	3.33
Legal & General Group	1	4	0	0	1.80

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.1% of AXA 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 company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares AXA 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
AXA	$84.92 billion	1.15	$11.08 billion	N/A	N/A
Legal & General Group	$12.16 billion	1.52	$780.56 million	N/A	N/A

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

Summary

AXA beats Legal & General Group on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

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.