Yahoo Finance Why The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.'s (NYSE:HIG) CEO Pay Matters To You
In 2014 Chris Swift was appointed CEO of The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG). First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at other large companies. Next, we'll consider growth that the business demonstrates. And finally - as a second measure of performance - we will look at the returns shareholders have received over the last few years. This process should give us an idea about how appropriately the CEO is paid.
View our latest analysis for Hartford Financial Services Group
How Does Chris Swift's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
Our data indicates that The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. is worth US$22b, and total annual CEO compensation was reported as US$14m for the year to December 2018. While we always look at total compensation first, we note that the salary component is less, at US$1.1m. We note that more than half of the total compensation is not the salary; and performance requirements may apply to this non-salary portion. We took a group of companies with market capitalizations over US$8.0b, and calculated the median CEO total compensation to be US$11m. There aren't very many mega-cap companies, so we had to take a wide range to get a meaningful comparison figure.
That means Chris Swift receives fairly typical remuneration for the CEO of a large company. This doesn't tell us a whole lot on its own, but looking at the performance of the actual business will give us useful context.
You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at Hartford Financial Services Group, below.
Is The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. Growing?
The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 49% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 6.0% over the last year.
This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently. A good result. It's also good to see modest revenue growth, suggesting the underlying business is healthy. It could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future.
Has The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. Been A Good Investment?
Most shareholders would probably be pleased with The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. for providing a total return of 35% over three years. This strong performance might mean some shareholders don't mind if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for a company of its size.
In Summary...
Chris Swift is paid around the same as most CEOs of large companies.
Few would be critical of the leadership, since returns have been juicy and earnings per share are moving in the right direction. Indeed, many might consider the pay rather modest, given the solid company performance! Whatever your view on compensation, you might want to check if insiders are buying or selling Hartford Financial Services Group shares (free trial).
Arguably, business quality is much more important than CEO compensation levels. So check out this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
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