Unum Group (UNM) Competitors

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) and AMERISAFE (NASDAQ:AMSF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation, risk, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of UNM or AMSF?

86.6% of Unum Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.4% of AMERISAFE shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Unum Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of AMERISAFE shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts recommend UNM or AMSF?

Unum Group currently has a consensus price target of $90.14, indicating a potential upside of 12.01%. AMERISAFE has a consensus price target of $59.50, indicating a potential upside of 32.19%. Given AMERISAFE's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe AMERISAFE is more favorable than Unum Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Unum Group	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.79
AMERISAFE	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, UNM or AMSF?

Unum Group has higher revenue and earnings than AMERISAFE. Unum Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AMERISAFE, 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
Unum Group	$12.89B	1.09	$1.78B	$8.49	9.48
AMERISAFE	$309.04M	2.77	$55.44M	$2.48	18.15

Does the media prefer UNM or AMSF?

In the previous week, Unum Group had 9 more articles in the media than AMERISAFE. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Unum Group and 7 mentions for AMERISAFE. AMERISAFE's average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat Unum Group's score of 0.93 indicating that AMERISAFE is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Unum Group	8 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AMERISAFE	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is UNM or AMSF more profitable?

AMERISAFE has a net margin of 15.76% compared to Unum Group's net margin of 12.31%. AMERISAFE's return on equity of 16.41% beat Unum Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Unum Group	12.31%	14.17%	2.46%
AMERISAFE	15.76%	16.41%	3.87%

Which has more volatility & risk, UNM or AMSF?

Unum Group has a beta of 0.41, meaning that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AMERISAFE has a beta of 0.4, meaning that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is UNM or AMSF a better dividend stock?

Unum Group pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. AMERISAFE pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Unum Group pays out 19.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AMERISAFE pays out 62.9% 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. Unum Group has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years and AMERISAFE has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Summary

Unum Group and AMERISAFE tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.