Head to Head Review: Legal & General Group (OTCMKTS:LGGNY) vs. James River Group (NASDAQ:JRVR)

James River Group (NASDAQ:JRVR) and Legal & General Group (OTCMKTS:LGGNY) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.

Volatility & Risk

James River Group has a beta of -0.02, meaning that its share price is 102% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Legal & General Group has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

95.2% of James River Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Legal & General Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 33.8% of James River Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

James River Group pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Legal & General Group pays an annual dividend of $0.77 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. James River Group pays out -1.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares James River Group and Legal & General Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
James River Group	-7.64%	7.11%	0.69%
Legal & General Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for James River Group and Legal & General Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
James River Group	1	5	1	0	2.00
Legal & General Group	1	3	0	1	2.20

James River Group presently has a consensus target price of $6.40, suggesting a potential downside of 5.19%. Given James River Group’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe James River Group is more favorable than Legal & General Group.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares James River Group and Legal & General Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
James River Group	$707.63 million	0.44	-$81.12 million	($2.08)	-3.25
Legal & General Group	$13.51 billion	1.55	$244.08 million	N/A	N/A

Legal & General Group has higher revenue and earnings than James River Group.

Summary

Legal & General Group beats James River Group on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About James River Group

James River Group Holdings, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides specialty insurance services. It operates through Excess and Surplus Lines, and Specialty Admitted Insurance segments. The Excess and Surplus Lines segment underwrites liability and property insurance in the United States Puerto Rice, and the United States Virgin Islands. This segment distributes its insurance policies primarily through wholesale insurance brokers. The Specialty Admitted Insurance segment provides insurance for fronting, program administrators, managing general agents, and independent retail agents. James River Group Holdings, Ltd. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda.

About Legal & General Group

Legal & General Group Plc provides various insurance products and services in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates in Legal & General Retirement Institutional (LGRI), Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), Legal & General Capital (LGC), and Retail segments. The LGRI segment offers annuity contracts with guaranteed income for a specified time; and longevity insurance products. The LGIM segment offers index fund management; active fixed income funds and liquidity funds; active equity management; solution and liability driven investment; multi-asset funds; corporate pension scheme solutions; and real assets. The LGC segment provides investment strategy and implementation, and direct investment and structuring services. The Retail segment offers protection products, such as health, disability, critical illness, and accident; individual term assurance; reinsurance; savings and death benefits; annuities; lifetime mortgages; lifetime care plans; retirement interest only mortgages; and workplace savings scheme that provides corporate pension scheme solutions. It is also involved in the unit trust and institutional fund management, mortgage finance, treasury, building project and modular housing development, general insurance, and open-ended investment businesses. In addition, the company engages in the investment, operation, management, trading, and letting and operation of leased real estate; and construction of commercial buildings, financial intermediation, pension tracing and transfer, insurance agents and brokers, fund general partner, commercial lending, venture capital investing, contractual scheme, investor alternative investment fund, collective asset-management, and investment management activities; and provision of investment advisory, business information consultancy, and technology services. Legal & General Group Plc was founded in 1836 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.