Head to Head Analysis: Markel Group (NYSE:MKL) and Jackson Financial (NYSE:JXN)

Markel Group (NYSE:MKL) and Jackson Financial (NYSE:JXN) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

77.1% of Markel Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.0% of Jackson Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Markel Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Jackson Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Markel Group has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Jackson Financial has a beta of 1.34, indicating that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Markel Group and Jackson Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Markel Group	1	4	0	0	1.80
Jackson Financial	0	4	2	0	2.33

Markel Group presently has a consensus target price of $2,025.00, indicating a potential upside of 8.37%. Jackson Financial has a consensus target price of $134.20, indicating a potential downside of 0.42%. Given Markel Group’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Markel Group is more favorable than Jackson Financial.

Profitability

This table compares Markel Group and Jackson Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Markel Group	10.44%	7.52%	1.99%
Jackson Financial	1.59%	18.93%	0.52%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Markel Group and Jackson Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Markel Group	$15.51 billion	1.47	$2.11 billion	$140.76	13.28
Jackson Financial	$6.68 billion	1.37	$27.00 million	$0.71	189.80

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

About Markel Group

Markel Group Inc., a diverse holding company, engages in marketing and underwriting specialty insurance products in the United States, Bermuda, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The company offers general and professional liability, personal lines, marine and energy, specialty programs, and workers' compensation insurance products; and property coverages that include fire, allied lines, and other specialized property coverages, including catastrophe-exposed property risks, such as earthquake and wind. It also offers credit and surety products, and collateral protection insurance products. In addition, the company offers transaction, directors and officers, and healthcare liability reinsurance; and specialty treaty reinsurance products comprising credit and surety, workers' compensation, marine and energy, public entity, mortgage default, aviation and space, agriculture, and discrete political violence and national terror pools. Further, it provides construction services, consumer and building products, transportation-related products, consulting services, and equipment manufacturing products, as well as healthcare, leasing, and investment services. Additionally, the company operates as an insurance and investment fund manager offering a range of investment products, including insurance-linked securities, catastrophe bonds, insurance swaps, traditional reinsurance contracts, industry loss warranties and other financial instruments; and program services. It also manages funds with third parties. The company was formerly known as Markel Corporation and changed its name to Markel Group Inc. in May 2023. Markel Group Inc. was founded in 1930 and is based in Glen Allen, Virginia.

About Jackson Financial

Jackson Financial Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides suite of annuities to retail investors in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Retail Annuities, Institutional Products, and Closed Life and Annuity Blocks. The Retail Annuities segment offers various retirement income and savings products, including variable, fixed index, fixed, and payout annuities, as well as registered index-linked annuities and lifetime income solutions. The Institutional Products segment provides traditional guaranteed investment contracts; funding agreements comprising agreements issued in conjunction with its participation in the U.S. federal home loan bank program; and medium-term funding agreement-backed notes. The Closed Life and Annuity Blocks segment offers various protection products, such as whole life, universal life, variable universal life, and term life insurance products, as well as fixed, fixed index, and payout annuities; and a block of group payout annuities. The company also offers investment management services. It sells its products through a distribution network that includes independent broker-dealers, wirehouses, regional broker-dealers, banks, independent registered investment advisors, third-party platforms, and insurance agents. The company was formerly known as Brooke (Holdco1) Inc. and changed its name to Jackson Financial Inc. in July 2020. Jackson Financial Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Lansing, Michigan.