Head to Head Review: UniCredit (OTCMKTS:UNCRY) and Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG)

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) and UniCredit (OTCMKTS:UNCRY) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Lloyds Banking Group and UniCredit’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lloyds Banking Group	24.30%	10.06%	0.51%
UniCredit	32.88%	26.06%	2.08%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Lloyds Banking Group and UniCredit, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lloyds Banking Group	0	4	7	0	2.64
UniCredit	0	1	3	2	3.17

Insider and Institutional Ownership

2.2% of Lloyds Banking Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.3% of UniCredit shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Lloyds Banking Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Lloyds Banking Group has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UniCredit has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Lloyds Banking Group and UniCredit”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lloyds Banking Group	$25.61 billion	3.31	$6.14 billion	$0.42	13.70
UniCredit	$48.38 billion	2.81	$10.52 billion	N/A	N/A

UniCredit has higher revenue and earnings than Lloyds Banking Group.

Dividends

Lloyds Banking Group pays an annual dividend of $0.13 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. UniCredit pays an annual dividend of $1.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Lloyds Banking Group pays out 31.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

UniCredit beats Lloyds Banking Group on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lloyds Banking Group

Lloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates in three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance, Pensions and Investments. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, and credit cards to personal customers. The Commercial Banking segment provides lending, transactional banking, working capital management, risk management, and debt financing services to small and medium-sized entities, corporates, and institutions. The Insurance, Pensions, and Investments segment offers insurance, investment, and pension management products and services. It also provides digital banking services. The company offers its products and services under the Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows, MBNA, Schroders Personal Wealth, Black Horse, Lex Autolease, Birmingham Midshires, LDC, AMC, Embark Group, Citra, IWeb, Cavendish Online, and Tusker brand names. Lloyds Banking Group plc was founded in 1695 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

About UniCredit

UniCredit S.p.A. provides commercial banking services in Italy, Germany, Central Europe, and Eastern Europe. It offers retail, private, and wealth management solutions; and institutional investor solutions. The company also provides corporate finance advisory, rating advisory, financial sponsor, patient capital, capital structure advisory, and finance solutions, as well as securities services. In addition, it offers transactional and risk management, and strategic advisory and funding services; group trade and correspondent banking services; and payments and cash management solutions. The company serves SME, corporate, multinational corporate, financial institution, and public sector clients, as well as retail, private banking, wealth management, and family office clients. The company was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Milan, Italy.