Critical Survey: Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) vs. Brookfield Wealth Solutions (NYSE:BNT)

Brookfield Wealth Solutions (NYSE:BNT) and Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

Brookfield Wealth Solutions pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Assurant pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Brookfield Wealth Solutions pays out 112.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Assurant pays out 22.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Assurant is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

20.3% of Brookfield Wealth Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of Assurant shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Brookfield Wealth Solutions shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Assurant shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Brookfield Wealth Solutions has a beta of 1.58, meaning that its share price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Assurant has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Brookfield Wealth Solutions and Assurant”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Brookfield Wealth Solutions	$14.34 billion	0.56	$1.21 billion	$0.32	172.28
Assurant	$11.88 billion	0.87	$760.20 million	$14.47	14.14

Brookfield Wealth Solutions has higher revenue and earnings than Assurant. Assurant is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Brookfield Wealth Solutions, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Brookfield Wealth Solutions and Assurant’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Brookfield Wealth Solutions	0.10%	0.14%	0.01%
Assurant	6.40%	17.25%	2.55%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Brookfield Wealth Solutions and Assurant, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Brookfield Wealth Solutions	0	0	0	0	0.00
Assurant	0	2	4	0	2.67

Assurant has a consensus target price of $234.17, indicating a potential upside of 14.49%. Given Assurant’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Assurant is more favorable than Brookfield Wealth Solutions.

Summary

Assurant beats Brookfield Wealth Solutions on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Brookfield Wealth Solutions

Brookfield Wealth Solutions is focused on securing the financial futures of individuals and institutions through a range of retirement services, wealth protection products and tailored capital solutions. Through our operating subsidiaries, we offer a broad range of insurance products and services, including annuities, personal and commercial property and casualty insurance and life insurance.The company was incorporated in 2020 and is headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda.

About Assurant

Assurant, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides business services that supports, protects, and connects consumer purchases in North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through two segments: Global Lifestyle and Global Housing. The Global Lifestyle segment offers mobile device solutions, and extended service contracts and related services for consumer electronics and appliances, and credit and other insurance products; and vehicle protection, commercial equipment, and other related services. The Global Housing segment provides lender-placed homeowners, manufactured housing, and flood insurance; renters insurance and related products; and voluntary manufactured housing, and condominium and homeowners insurance products. The company was formerly known as Fortis, Inc. and changed its name to Assurant, Inc. in February 2004. Assurant, Inc. was founded in 1892 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.