Comparing Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) & Prudential Public (NYSE:PUK)

Prudential Public (NYSE:PUK) and Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Prudential Public and Horace Mann Educators”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Prudential Public	$21.26 billion	1.77	$2.29 billion	N/A	N/A
Horace Mann Educators	$1.60 billion	1.13	$102.80 million	$3.95	11.28

Prudential Public has higher revenue and earnings than Horace Mann Educators.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

1.9% of Prudential Public shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.3% of Horace Mann Educators shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Prudential Public shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.0% of Horace Mann Educators shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Prudential Public and Horace Mann Educators’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prudential Public	N/A	N/A	N/A
Horace Mann Educators	9.79%	15.69%	1.44%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Prudential Public and Horace Mann Educators, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prudential Public	0	1	5	0	2.83
Horace Mann Educators	0	3	2	1	2.67

Horace Mann Educators has a consensus price target of $46.75, suggesting a potential upside of 4.95%. Given Horace Mann Educators’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Horace Mann Educators is more favorable than Prudential Public.

Dividends

Prudential Public pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Horace Mann Educators pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Horace Mann Educators pays out 35.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Horace Mann Educators has raised its dividend for 17 consecutive years. Horace Mann Educators is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk and Volatility

Prudential Public has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Horace Mann Educators has a beta of 0.08, suggesting that its stock price is 92% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Horace Mann Educators beats Prudential Public on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Prudential Public

Prudential plc, through its subsidiaries, provides life and health insurance, and asset management solutions to individuals in Asia and Africa. The company was founded in 1848 and is headquartered in Central, Hong Kong.

About Horace Mann Educators

Horace Mann Educators Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an insurance holding company in the United States. The company operates through Property & Casualty, Life & Retirement, and Supplemental & Group Benefits segments. Its Property & Casualty segment offers insurance products, including private passenger auto insurance, residential home insurance, and personal umbrella insurance; and provides auto coverages including liability and collision, and property coverage for homeowners and renters. The Life & Retirement segment markets tax-qualified fixed, fixed indexed, and variable annuities; and internal revenue code for educator, which allows public school employees and employees of other tax-exempt organizations, such as not-for-profit private schools, to utilize pretax income to make periodic contributions to a qualified retirement plan. The Supplemental & Group Benefits segment offers employer-sponsored products including accident, critical illness, limited-benefit fixed indemnity insurance, term life, and short-term and long-term disability, as well as worksite direct products, such as supplemental heart, cancer, disability, and accident coverage. The company was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Springfield, Illinois.