Financial Comparison: Société Générale Société anonyme (OTCMKTS:SCGLY) and NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG)

Société Générale Société anonyme (OTCMKTS:SCGLY) and NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

Société Générale Société anonyme pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. NatWest Group pays an annual dividend of $0.31 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Société Générale Société anonyme pays out 14.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NatWest Group pays out 23.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Société Générale Société anonyme and NatWest Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Société Générale Société anonyme	0	3	0	1	2.50
NatWest Group	0	0	3	1	3.25

Profitability

This table compares Société Générale Société anonyme and NatWest Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Société Générale Société anonyme	12.96%	3.74%	0.18%
NatWest Group	N/A	11.97%	0.65%

Risk and Volatility

Société Générale Société anonyme has a beta of 1.41, suggesting that its share price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NatWest Group has a beta of 1.32, suggesting that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Société Générale Société anonyme and NatWest Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Société Générale Société anonyme	$27.17 billion	0.83	$2.70 billion	$0.83	6.82
NatWest Group	$14.38 billion	2.91	$5.77 billion	$1.32	7.64

NatWest Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Société Générale Société anonyme. Société Générale Société anonyme is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NatWest Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

1.0% of Société Générale Société anonyme shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.3% of NatWest Group shares are held by institutional investors. 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.

Summary

NatWest Group beats Société Générale Société anonyme on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Société Générale Société anonyme

Société Générale Société anonyme provides banking and financial services to individuals, corporates, and institutional clients in Europe and internationally. It operates through French Retail Banking, International Retail Banking & Financial Services, and Global Banking and Investor Solutions. It offers retail banking services, such as consumer credit, vehicle leasing and fleet management, online banking, wealth management, and equipment and vendor finance services; and insurance products, including home, vehicle, family, health, and mortgage insurance. The company also provides corporate and investment banking, securities, business consulting, consumer finance, advisory and financing, and asset management and private banking services. In addition, it offers brokerage, cash management, payment, factoring/reverse factoring, export financing, trade finance, cash clearing and correspondent banking, and receivables and supply chain financing services. Société Générale Société anonyme was incorporated in 1864 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

About NatWest Group

NatWest Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services to personal, commercial, corporate, and institutional customers in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates through Retail Banking, Private Banking, and Commercial & Institutional segments. The Retail Banking segment offers a range of banking products and related financial services, such as current accounts, mortgages, personal unsecured lending, and personal deposits, as well as mobile and online banking services. The Private Banking segment provides private banking and wealth management products for high-net-worth individuals and their business interests. The Commercial & Institutional segment offers banking and financial solutions to large corporate organisations, multi-nationals, and financial institutions. The company was formerly known as The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc and changed its name to NatWest Group plc in July 2020. NatWest Group plc was founded in 1727 and is headquartered in Edinburgh, the United Kingdom.