The Cigna Group (CI) Competitors

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) and The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, community ranking, earnings, dividends, risk, profitability, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Do analysts recommend UNH or CI?

UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus price target of $426.52, suggesting a potential upside of 37.28%. The Cigna Group has a consensus price target of $380.39, suggesting a potential upside of 22.71%. Given UnitedHealth Group's higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe UnitedHealth Group is more favorable than The Cigna Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UnitedHealth Group	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	16 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63
The Cigna Group	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	16 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.95

Do institutionals & insiders believe in UNH or CI?

87.9% of UnitedHealth Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.0% of The Cigna Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of UnitedHealth Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of The Cigna Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is UNH or CI more profitable?

UnitedHealth Group has a net margin of 3.60% compared to The Cigna Group's net margin of 1.39%. UnitedHealth Group's return on equity of 26.69% beat The Cigna Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UnitedHealth Group	3.60%	26.69%	8.80%
The Cigna Group	1.39%	18.61%	4.98%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in UNH or CI?

UnitedHealth Group received 772 more outperform votes than The Cigna Group when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 80.38% of users gave UnitedHealth Group an outperform vote while only 72.77% of users gave The Cigna Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
UnitedHealth Group	Outperform Votes 1753 80.38%	Underperform Votes 428 19.62%
The Cigna Group	Outperform Votes 981 72.77%	Underperform Votes 367 27.23%

Which has more volatility & risk, UNH or CI?

UnitedHealth Group has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The Cigna Group has a beta of 0.44, suggesting that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, UNH or CI?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
UnitedHealth Group	$410.06B	0.69	$14.41B	$23.88	13.01
The Cigna Group	$254.47B	0.33	$3.43B	$18.06	17.16

Does the media favor UNH or CI?

In the previous week, UnitedHealth Group had 81 more articles in the media than The Cigna Group. MarketBeat recorded 101 mentions for UnitedHealth Group and 20 mentions for The Cigna Group. The Cigna Group's average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat UnitedHealth Group's score of 0.94 indicating that The Cigna Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
UnitedHealth Group	57 Very Positive mention(s)	14 Positive mention(s)	21 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
The Cigna Group	18 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is UNH or CI a better dividend stock?

UnitedHealth Group pays an annual dividend of $8.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. The Cigna Group pays an annual dividend of $6.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. UnitedHealth Group pays out 37.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. The Cigna Group pays out 33.4% 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. UnitedHealth Group has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years and The Cigna Group has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. UnitedHealth Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

UnitedHealth Group beats The Cigna Group on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.