Humana (HUM) Competitors

Humana (NYSE:HUM) and Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, community ranking, risk, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Is HUM or ELV a better dividend stock?

Humana pays an annual dividend of $3.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Elevance Health pays an annual dividend of $6.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Humana pays out 25.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Elevance Health pays out 26.7% 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. Elevance Health has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Elevance Health 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 ELV?

In the previous week, Elevance Health had 28 more articles in the media than Humana. MarketBeat recorded 52 mentions for Elevance Health and 24 mentions for Humana. Elevance Health's average media sentiment score of 0.55 beat Humana's score of 0.55 indicating that Elevance Health is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Humana	10 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Elevance Health	25 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	21 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders believe in HUM or ELV?

92.4% of Humana shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.2% of Elevance Health shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Humana shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Elevance Health shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts prefer HUM or ELV?

Humana presently has a consensus target price of $284.48, suggesting a potential upside of 22.65%. Elevance Health has a consensus target price of $498.87, suggesting a potential upside of 29.92%. Given Elevance Health's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Elevance Health is more favorable than Humana.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Humana	0 Sell rating(s)	16 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.30
Elevance Health	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Is HUM or ELV more profitable?

Elevance Health has a net margin of 3.38% compared to Humana's net margin of 1.02%. Elevance Health's return on equity of 18.28% beat Humana's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Humana	1.02%	11.70%	3.99%
Elevance Health	3.38%	18.28%	6.72%

Which has more volatility and risk, HUM or ELV?

Humana has a beta of 0.43, meaning that its share price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Elevance Health has a beta of 0.6, meaning that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, HUM or ELV?

Elevance Health has higher revenue and earnings than Humana. Elevance Health 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	$120.26B	0.23	$1.21B	$14.14	16.40
Elevance Health	$183.12B	0.47	$5.98B	$25.63	14.98

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer HUM or ELV?

Humana received 18 more outperform votes than Elevance Health when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 67.30% of users gave Elevance Health an outperform vote while only 62.53% of users gave Humana an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Humana	Outperform Votes 901 62.53%	Underperform Votes 540 37.47%
Elevance Health	Outperform Votes 883 67.30%	Underperform Votes 429 32.70%

Summary

Elevance Health beats Humana on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.