Analyzing Ryan Specialty (NYSE:RYAN) & Loews (NYSE:L)

Loews (NYSE:L) and Ryan Specialty (NYSE:RYAN) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Loews and Ryan Specialty’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Loews	9.02%	8.60%	1.96%
Ryan Specialty	7.55%	43.97%	4.78%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Loews and Ryan Specialty, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Loews	0	0	0	1	4.00
Ryan Specialty	1	10	8	0	2.37

Ryan Specialty has a consensus price target of $53.86, suggesting a potential upside of 28.55%. Given Ryan Specialty’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ryan Specialty is more favorable than Loews.

Dividends

Loews pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Ryan Specialty pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Loews pays out 3.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ryan Specialty pays out 72.2% 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. Ryan Specialty has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Ryan Specialty is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility & Risk

Loews has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ryan Specialty has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Loews and Ryan Specialty”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Loews	$18.45 billion	1.21	$1.67 billion	$8.16	13.38
Ryan Specialty	$3.05 billion	3.51	$63.40 million	$0.72	58.19

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

58.3% of Loews shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.8% of Ryan Specialty shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.0% of Loews shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 52.0% of Ryan Specialty shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Ryan Specialty beats Loews on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Loews

Loews Corporation provides commercial property and casualty insurance in the United States and internationally. The company offers specialty insurance products, such as management and professional liability, and other coverage products; surety and fidelity bonds; property insurance products that include standard and excess property, marine and boiler, and machinery coverages; and casualty insurance products, such as workers' compensation, general and product liability, and commercial auto, surplus, and umbrella coverages. It also provides loss-sensitive insurance programs; and warranty, risk management, information, and claims administration services. The company markets its insurance products and services through independent agents, brokers, and managing general underwriters. In addition, the company is involved in the transportation and storage of natural gas and natural gas liquids, and hydrocarbons through natural gas pipelines covering approximately 13,455 miles of interconnected pipelines; 855 miles of NGL pipelines in Louisiana and Texas; 14 underground storage fields with an aggregate gas capacity of approximately 199.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas; and eleven salt dome caverns and related brine infrastructure for providing brine supply services. Further, the company operates a chain of 25 hotels; and develops, manufactures, and markets a range of extrusion blow-molded and injection molded plastic containers for customers in the pharmaceutical, dairy, household chemicals, food/nutraceuticals, industrial/specialty chemicals, and water and beverage/juice industries, as well as manufactures commodity and differentiated plastic resins from recycled plastic materials. Loews Corporation was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Ryan Specialty

Ryan Specialty Holdings, Inc. operates as a service provider of specialty products and solutions for insurance brokers, agents, and carriers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Singapore. It offers distribution, underwriting, product development, administration, and risk management services by acting as a wholesale broker and a managing underwriter. The company serves commercial, industrial, institutional, and government sectors. Ryan Specialty Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.