Citizens (NYSE:CIA) and Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) Critical Review

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) and Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, risk and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Citizens and Unum Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens	7.12%	7.21%	0.96%
Unum Group	5.26%	12.60%	2.18%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Citizens and Unum Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens	0	1	0	0	2.00
Unum Group	0	6	8	0	2.57

Unum Group has a consensus target price of $99.00, suggesting a potential upside of 9.93%. Given Unum Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Unum Group is more favorable than Citizens.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Citizens and Unum Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citizens	$255.62 million	0.91	$14.59 million	$0.35	13.26
Unum Group	$13.08 billion	1.09	$738.50 million	$4.29	20.99

Unum Group has higher revenue and earnings than Citizens. Citizens is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Unum Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

13.7% of Citizens shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.6% of Unum Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Citizens shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Unum Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Citizens has a beta of 0.48, suggesting that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unum Group has a beta of 0.26, suggesting that its share price is 74% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Unum Group beats Citizens on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Citizens

Citizens, Inc. provides life insurance products in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Life Insurance and Home Service Insurance. The Life Insurance segment issues ordinary whole life insurance and endowment policies in the United States dollar-denominated amounts to non-U.S. residents in through independent marketing agencies and consultants. The Home Service Insurance segment offers final expense life insurance and property insurance policies to middle-and lower-income households, as well as whole life products in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. This segment provides its products and services through funeral homes and independent agents. The company provides accident and health insurance policies. Citizens, Inc. was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

About Unum Group

Unum Group, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial protection benefit solutions primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, and internationally. It operates through Unum US, Unum International, Colonial Life, and Closed Block segment. The company offers group long-term and short-term disability, group life, and accidental death and dismemberment products; supplemental and voluntary products, such as individual disability, voluntary benefits, and dental and vision products; and accident, sickness, disability, life, and cancer and critical illness products. It also provides group pension, individual life and corporate-owned life insurance, reinsurance pools and management operations, and other miscellaneous products. The company sells its products primarily to employers for the benefit of employees. It sells its products through field sales personnel, independent brokers, consultants, and independent contractor agent sales force and brokers. Unum Group was founded in 1848 and is based in Chattanooga, Tennessee.