Comparing Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) & Hamilton Insurance Group (NYSE:HG)

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) and Hamilton Insurance Group (NYSE:HG) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

75.1% of Principal Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 29.2% of Hamilton Insurance Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Principal Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Hamilton Insurance Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Principal Financial Group and Hamilton Insurance Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Principal Financial Group	1	7	2	0	2.10
Hamilton Insurance Group	0	4	5	0	2.56

Principal Financial Group currently has a consensus target price of $93.44, indicating a potential downside of 2.83%. Hamilton Insurance Group has a consensus target price of $32.71, indicating a potential upside of 2.16%. Given Hamilton Insurance Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hamilton Insurance Group is more favorable than Principal Financial Group.

Profitability

This table compares Principal Financial Group and Hamilton Insurance Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Principal Financial Group	7.58%	16.09%	0.57%
Hamilton Insurance Group	19.85%	19.43%	5.73%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Principal Financial Group and Hamilton Insurance Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Principal Financial Group	$15.63 billion	1.33	$1.19 billion	$5.27	18.25
Hamilton Insurance Group	$2.91 billion	1.09	$576.67 million	$5.57	5.75

Principal Financial Group has higher revenue and earnings than Hamilton Insurance Group. Hamilton Insurance Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Principal Financial Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Principal Financial Group has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hamilton Insurance Group has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Hamilton Insurance Group beats Principal Financial Group on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Principal Financial Group

Principal Financial Group, Inc. provides retirement, asset management, and insurance products and services to businesses, individuals, and institutional clients worldwide. The company operates through Retirement and Income Solutions, Principal Global Investors, Principal International, and U.S. Insurance Solutions segments. The Retirement and Income Solutions segment provides a portfolio of asset accumulation products and services for retirement savings and income. It offers products and services for defined contribution plans, including 401(k) and 403(b) plans, defined benefit pension plans, nonqualified executive benefit plans, employee stock ownership plans, equity compensation, and pension risk transfer services; individual retirement accounts; investment only products; and mutual funds, individual variable annuities, and bank products. The Principal Global Investors segment provides equity, fixed income, real estate, and other alternative investments, as well as asset allocation, stable value management, and other structured investment strategies. The Principal International segment offers pension accumulation products and services, mutual funds, asset management, income annuities, and life insurance accumulation products, as well as voluntary savings plans in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, India, and Southeast Asia. The U.S. Insurance Solutions segment provides specialty benefits, such as group dental and vision insurance, group life insurance, and group and individual disability insurance, as well as administers group dental, disability, and vision benefits; and individual life insurance products comprising universal, variable universal, indexed universal, and term life insurance products in the United States. It also offers insurance solutions for small and medium-sized businesses and their owners, as well as executives. Principal Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1879 and is based in Des Moines, Iowa.

About Hamilton Insurance Group

Hamilton Insurance Group, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides underwriting specialty insurance and reinsurance risks in Bermuda and internationally. The company operates Hamilton Global Specialty, Hamilton Select, and Hamilton Re underwriting platforms. The company offers casualty reinsurance products, such as commercial motor, general liability, healthcare, multiline, personal motor, professional liability, umbrella and excess casualty, and worker's compensation and employer's liability reinsurance; property reinsurance and insurance; and specialty reinsurance solutions, including accident and health, aviation and space, crisis management, mortgage, financial lines, marine and energy, and multiline specialty. In addition, it offers accident and health, cyber, energy, environmental, financial lines, fine art and specie, kidnap and ransom, mergers and acquisitions, marine and energy liability, political risk and violence, professional liability, property binders, property direct and facultative, professional lines, space, upstream energy, excess casualty, war and terrorism, allied medical, management liability, medical professionals, general liability, products liability and contractors, and small business casualty insurance plans, as well as surety and treaty reinsurance products. The company was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda.