Humana (HUM) Competitors

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

Is ELV or HUM a better dividend stock?

Elevance Health pays an annual dividend of $6.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Humana pays an annual dividend of $3.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Elevance Health pays out 23.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Humana pays out 31.4% 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. Elevance Health has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Elevance Health is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of ELV or HUM?

89.2% of Elevance Health shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.4% of Humana shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Elevance Health shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Humana shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, ELV or HUM?

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
Elevance Health	$171.34B	0.52	$5.99B	$27.43	14.01
Humana	$106.37B	0.32	$2.49B	$11.29	25.03

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer ELV or HUM?

Humana received 28 more outperform votes than Elevance Health when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 67.26% of users gave Elevance Health an outperform vote while only 62.93% of users gave Humana an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Elevance Health	Outperform Votes 865 67.26%	Underperform Votes 421 32.74%
Humana	Outperform Votes 893 62.93%	Underperform Votes 526 37.07%

Do analysts rate ELV or HUM?

Elevance Health presently has a consensus target price of $536.53, indicating a potential upside of 39.63%. Humana has a consensus target price of $302.70, indicating a potential upside of 7.10%. Given Elevance Health's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Elevance Health is more favorable than Humana.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Elevance Health	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.81
Humana	0 Sell rating(s)	19 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.24

Does the media refer more to ELV or HUM?

In the previous week, Elevance Health had 20 more articles in the media than Humana. MarketBeat recorded 41 mentions for Elevance Health and 21 mentions for Humana. Elevance Health's average media sentiment score of 1.28 beat Humana's score of 0.78 indicating that Elevance Health is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Elevance Health	32 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Humana	12 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is ELV or HUM more profitable?

Elevance Health has a net margin of 3.68% compared to Humana's net margin of 1.18%. Elevance Health's return on equity of 19.56% beat Humana's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Elevance Health	3.68%	19.56%	7.22%
Humana	1.18%	13.20%	4.47%

Which has more risk & volatility, ELV or HUM?

Elevance Health has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Humana has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Elevance Health beats Humana on 18 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.