Humana (HUM) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HUM or ELV?

Humana received 30 more outperform votes than Elevance Health when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 67.26% of users gave Elevance Health an outperform vote while only 63.06% of users gave Humana an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Humana	Outperform Votes 893 63.06%	Underperform Votes 523 36.94%
Elevance Health	Outperform Votes 863 67.26%	Underperform Votes 420 32.74%

Is HUM or ELV a better dividend stock?

Humana pays an annual dividend of $3.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Elevance Health pays an annual dividend of $6.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Humana pays out 31.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Elevance Health pays out 23.8% 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 increased 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.

Is HUM or ELV 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
Humana	1.18%	13.20%	4.47%
Elevance Health	3.68%	19.56%	7.22%

Do analysts prefer HUM or ELV?

Humana presently has a consensus price target of $315.86, indicating a potential upside of 7.43%. Elevance Health has a consensus price target of $539.20, indicating a potential upside of 35.65%. Given Elevance Health's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly 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)	19 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.24
Elevance Health	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.81

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

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

Does the media prefer HUM or ELV?

In the previous week, Elevance Health had 4 more articles in the media than Humana. MarketBeat recorded 35 mentions for Elevance Health and 31 mentions for Humana. Elevance Health's average media sentiment score of 1.34 beat Humana's score of 0.62 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	18 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Elevance Health	30 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable 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	$106.37B	0.33	$2.49B	$11.29	26.04
Elevance Health	$171.34B	0.54	$5.99B	$27.43	14.49

Which has more volatility & risk, HUM or ELV?

Humana has a beta of 0.52, suggesting that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Elevance Health has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

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