Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) vs. Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) Critical Contrast

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) and Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Assurant and Lincoln National, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Assurant	0	0	6	2	3.25
Lincoln National	1	5	7	0	2.46

Assurant currently has a consensus target price of $324.29, indicating a potential upside of 10.75%. Lincoln National has a consensus target price of $48.67, indicating a potential upside of 18.87%. Given Lincoln National’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Lincoln National is more favorable than Assurant.

Profitability

This table compares Assurant and Lincoln National’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Assurant	7.90%	20.40%	3.34%
Lincoln National	12.21%	17.35%	0.41%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.7% of Assurant shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.8% of Lincoln National shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Assurant shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Lincoln National shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Assurant and Lincoln National”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Assurant	$12.81 billion	1.13	$872.70 million	$20.94	13.98
Lincoln National	$18.21 billion	0.43	$1.18 billion	$11.54	3.55

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

Risk & Volatility

Assurant has a beta of 0.52, suggesting that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lincoln National has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Assurant pays an annual dividend of $3.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Lincoln National pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Assurant pays out 16.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lincoln National pays out 15.6% 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. Assurant has raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years. Lincoln National is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

About Assurant

Assurant, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides business services that supports, protects, and connects consumer purchases in North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through two segments: Global Lifestyle and Global Housing. The Global Lifestyle segment offers mobile device solutions, and extended service contracts and related services for consumer electronics and appliances, and credit and other insurance products; and vehicle protection, commercial equipment, and other related services. The Global Housing segment provides lender-placed homeowners, manufactured housing, and flood insurance; renters insurance and related products; and voluntary manufactured housing, and condominium and homeowners insurance products. The company was formerly known as Fortis, Inc. and changed its name to Assurant, Inc. in February 2004. Assurant, Inc. was founded in 1892 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Lincoln National

Lincoln National Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates multiple insurance and retirement businesses in the United States. It operates in four segments: Life Insurance, Annuities, Group Protection, and Retirement Plan Services. The Life Insurance segment provides life insurance products, including term insurance, universal life insurance (UL), indexed universal life insurance, variable universal life insurance (VUL), linked-benefit UL and VUL products, and critical illness and long-term care riders. The Annuities segment offers variable, fixed, and registered index-linked annuities. The Group Protection segment offers group non-medical insurance products consisting of short and long-term disability and statutory disability; paid family medical leave administration and absence management services; term life; dental and vision; and accident, critical illness, and hospital indemnity benefits and services to the employer marketplace through various forms of employee-paid and employer-paid plans. The Retirement Plan Services segment provides employers with retirement plan products and services primarily in the defined contribution retirement plan marketplace; individual and group variable annuities, group fixed annuities, and mutual fund-based programs; and various plan services, including plan recordkeeping, compliance testing, participant education, and trust and custodial services. The company distributes its products through consultants, brokers, planners, agents, financial advisors, third-party administrators, and other intermediaries. Lincoln National Corporation was founded in 1905 and is headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania.