Reviewing Allianz (OTCMKTS:ALIZY) and Loews (NYSE:L)

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

Dividends

Loews pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Allianz pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Loews pays out 3.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Allianz pays out 38.9% 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Loews and Allianz, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Loews	0	0	0	1	4.00
Allianz	1	2	2	1	2.50

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Loews	8.83%	8.51%	1.91%
Allianz	6.48%	19.92%	1.25%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Loews and Allianz”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	1.22	$1.67 billion	$7.87	13.85
Allianz	$211.45 billion	0.80	$12.19 billion	$3.60	12.38

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

Risk and Volatility

Loews has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Allianz has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

58.3% of Loews shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Allianz shares are held by institutional investors. 19.0% of Loews shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Loews beats Allianz on 9 of the 15 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 Allianz

Allianz SE, together with its subsidiaries, provides property-casualty insurance, life/health insurance, and asset management products and services worldwide. The company’s Property-Casualty segment offers various insurance products, including motor liability and own damage, accident, general liability, fire and property, legal expense, credit, and travel to private and corporate customers. Its Life/Health segment provides a range of life and health insurance products on an individual and a group basis, such as annuities, endowment and term insurance, and unit-linked and investment-oriented products, as well as private and supplemental health, and long-term care insurance products. The company’s Asset Management segment offers institutional and retail asset management products and services to third-party investors comprising equity and fixed income funds, and multi-assets; and alternative investment products that include real estate, infrastructure debt/equity, real assets, liquid alternatives, and solutions. Its Corporate and Other segment provides banking services for retail clients, as well as digital investment services. Allianz SE was founded in 1890 and is headquartered in Munich, Germany.