Humana (HUM) Competitors

Humana (NYSE:HUM) and Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and risk.

Do analysts prefer HUM or CI?

Humana currently has a consensus price target of $293.50, suggesting a potential downside of 0.60%. Cigna Group has a consensus price target of $372.69, suggesting a potential upside of 21.31%. Given Cigna Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Cigna Group is more favorable than Humana.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Humana	1 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.30
Cigna Group	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.95

Is HUM or CI more profitable?

Cigna Group has a net margin of 1.92% compared to Humana's net margin of 1.28%. Cigna Group's return on equity of 18.80% beat Humana's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Humana	1.28%	13.67%	4.85%
Cigna Group	1.92%	18.80%	5.02%

Which has higher earnings and valuation, HUM or CI?

Cigna Group has higher revenue and earnings than Humana. Cigna Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Humana, 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
Humana	$117.76B	0.30	$1.21B	$13.03	22.66
Cigna Group	$247.12B	0.33	$3.43B	$18.32	16.77

Is HUM or CI a better dividend stock?

Humana pays an annual dividend of $3.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Cigna Group pays an annual dividend of $6.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Humana pays out 27.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cigna Group pays out 33.0% 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. Cigna Group has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Cigna Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media refer more to HUM or CI?

In the previous week, Humana had 9 more articles in the media than Cigna Group. MarketBeat recorded 41 mentions for Humana and 32 mentions for Cigna Group. Cigna Group's average media sentiment score of 1.31 beat Humana's score of 0.58 indicating that Cigna Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Humana	12 Very Positive mention(s)	11 Positive mention(s)	14 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cigna Group	24 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, HUM or CI?

Humana has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cigna Group has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in HUM or CI?

92.4% of Humana shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.0% of Cigna Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Humana shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Cigna Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Cigna Group beats Humana on 16 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.