Comparing Hannover Ruck (OTCMKTS:HVRRY) & Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW)

Hannover Ruck (OTCMKTS:HVRRY) and Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Hannover Ruck and Willis Towers Watson Public’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hannover Ruck	8.46%	18.29%	3.17%
Willis Towers Watson Public	-0.54%	20.53%	6.06%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Hannover Ruck and Willis Towers Watson Public, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hannover Ruck	1	1	0	1	2.33
Willis Towers Watson Public	1	1	7	1	2.80

Willis Towers Watson Public has a consensus target price of $356.30, indicating a potential upside of 17.32%. Given Willis Towers Watson Public’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Willis Towers Watson Public is more favorable than Hannover Ruck.

Dividends

Hannover Ruck pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Willis Towers Watson Public pays an annual dividend of $3.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Hannover Ruck pays out 27.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Willis Towers Watson Public pays out -736.0% 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. Willis Towers Watson Public has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years.

Volatility & Risk

Hannover Ruck has a beta of 0.46, meaning that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Willis Towers Watson Public has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Hannover Ruck and Willis Towers Watson Public”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hannover Ruck	$28.55 billion	1.33	$2.52 billion	$3.35	15.62
Willis Towers Watson Public	$9.93 billion	3.03	-$98.00 million	($0.50)	-607.38

Hannover Ruck has higher revenue and earnings than Willis Towers Watson Public. Willis Towers Watson Public is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hannover Ruck, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.0% of Hannover Ruck shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.1% of Willis Towers Watson Public shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Willis Towers Watson Public shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Willis Towers Watson Public beats Hannover Ruck on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hannover Ruck

Hannover Rück SE, together with its subsidiaries, provides reinsurance products and services in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Europe, the United States, Asia, Australia, Africa, and internationally. It operates through Property & Casualty Reinsurance; and Life & Health Reinsurance segments. The company provides property and casualty reinsurance solutions for agricultural, livestock, and bloodstock; aviation and space; catastrophe XL; credit, surety, and political risks; facultative; and marine and offshore energy businesses, as well as insurance-linked securities and structured reinsurance. It offers risk solutions in the areas of critical illness, disability, health, longevity, long term care, and mortality. In addition, the company offers group life, retirement, lifestyle, credit life, and Takaful reinsurance products. Further, the company provides various financial solutions, including new-business financing; monetization of embedded value; reserve and solvency relief; and reinsurance and solvency II businesses. The company was formerly known as Hannover Rückversicherung AG and changed its name to Hannover Rück SE in March 2013. Hannover Rück SE was founded in 1966 and is based in Hanover, Germany. Hannover Rück SE operates as a subsidiary of Talanx AG.

About Willis Towers Watson Public

Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company operates as an advisory, broking, and solutions company worldwide. It operates through two segments: Health, Wealth & Career and Risk & Broking. The company offers strategy and design consulting, plan management service and support, broking and administration services for health, wellbeing, and other group benefit program, including medical, dental, disability, life, voluntary benefits and other coverages; actuarial support, plan design, and administrative services for pension and retirement savings plans; retirement consulting services and solutions; and integrated solutions that consists of investment discretionary management, pension administration, core actuarial, and communication and change management assistance services. It also provides advice, data, software, and products to address clients' total rewards and talent issues; and risk advice, insurance brokerage, and consulting services in the areas of property and casualty, affinity, risk and analytics, aerospace, construction, global markets direct & facultative, financial, executive and professional risks, financial solutions, crisis management, surety, marine, and natural resources. In addition, the company offers integrated solutions that consists of investment discretionary management, pension administration, core actuarial, and communication and change management assistance services; and software and technology, risk and capital management, products and product pricing, financial and regulatory reporting, financial and capital modeling, M&A, outsourcing, and business management services. The company was formerly known as Willis Group Holdings Public Limited Company and changed its name to Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company in January 2016. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company was founded in 1828 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.