10 Biggest Insurance Companies
Insurance companies provide risk management to individuals, businesses, and institutional clients. There are a multitude of different types of insurance companies that offer policies which cover losses related to accidents, health, property and casualty, homeownership, professional liability, malpractice, and casualty, among other areas.
Here are the 10 biggest insurance companies by annual revenue. All figures are from TradingView (as of July 19, 2024), and this list is limited to companies that are publicly traded in the U.S., either directly or through ADRs.
Key Takeaways
- United Healthcare is the leading insurance company in terms of revenue.
- Insurance companies offer policies for losses due to accidents, health issues, property damage, and professional liability.
- Some of the largest insurance companies hold market positions in the United States, Latin America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Some of the stocks below are only traded over-the-counter (OTC) in the U.S., not on exchanges. Trading OTC stocks often carries higher trading costs than trading stocks on exchanges. This can lower or outweigh potential returns.
- Revenue: $371.62 billion
- Net Income: $22.38 billion
- Market Cap: $519.33 billion
- 1-Year Trailing Total Return: 11.37%
- Exchange: New York Stock Exchange
United Health Group was founded in 1977 as United Healthcare and rebranded to its current name in 1998. It is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, and employs about 400,000 people across two businesses: Optum and United Healthcare.
Within the two businesses, United Health Group has four reporting segments:
- Optum Health: The insurance policy provider consumers pay monthly premiums to.
- Optum Insight: UNH’s data and analytics platform that provides informational and performance analytics services to governments, life science companies, hospitals, health plan administrators, and more.
- Optum Rx: UNH’s pharmacy care service provider, used by benefit plan providers, large corporate health care plans, and others.
- United Healthcare: Provides health care and insurance for employers, individuals, Medicare and retirement plans, and community and state health insurance plans including Medicaid.
- Revenue: $364.48 billion
- Net Income: $96.22 billion
- Market Cap: $947.53 billion
- 1-Year Trailing Total Return: 28.14%
- Exchange: New York Stock Exchange
Headquartered in Omaha, NE, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is a large holding business that owns some of the nation’s premier insurance companies. Its holdings include sectors such as rail transportation, utilities, energy, manufacturing, services, and retailing.
Berkshire provides primary insurance and reinsurance of property and casualty risks through companies such as GEICO, Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group, and Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group.
- Revenue: $358.27 billion
- Net Income: $8.34 billion
- Market Cap: $75.07 billion
- 1-Year Trailing Total Return: -19.37%
- Exchange: New York Stock Exchange
CVS, widely known for its retail healthcare product stores and pharmacies, is one of the largest health insurance companies in the U.S. It is headquartered in Woonsocket, RI, employs about 300,000 people, and operates in the following segments:
- Health Care Benefits: Offers individual, commercial, and government medical benefit plans.
- Health Care Services: Provides and manages a range of pharmacy benefit management solutions, reviews and approves formularies, manages a network of 66,000 pharmacies,
- Pharmacy & Consumer Wellness: The pharmacies and retail stores most people are familiar with.
- Corporate and Other: The administrative and management segment.
- Revenue: $195.19 billion
- Net Income: $5.16 billion
- Market Cap: $96.45 billion
- 1-Year Trailing Total Return: 15.69%
- Exchange: New York Stock Exchange
Ranked fourth by revenues is Cigna, headquartered in Bloomfield, CT. Cigna employs close to 72,500 globally. It operates in two segments: Evernorth Health Services and Cigna Healthcare.
Evernorth provides services for health plans, governments, employers, and providers. Brands within Evernorth include Express Scripts, Accredo, Health Connect 360, and Ascent Health Service.
Its Healthcare segment provides medical and healthcare coordination solutions and Medicare plans.
- Revenue: $154.00 billion
- Net Income: $2.70 billion
- Market Cap: $35.38 billion
- 1-Year Trailing Total Return: -4.07%
- Exchange: New York Stock Exchange
Insurance company Centene is mainly dedicated to government programs, as three of its four segments are Medicaid, Medicare, and Commercial programs. Its Other segment includes pharmacies, vision and dental services, and other clinical and behavioral services and management.
Centene is headquartered in St. Louis, MS, and employs about 67,000 pCVSeople.
- Revenue: $134.75 billion
- Net Income: $9.23 billion
- Market Cap: $111.61 billion
- 1-Year Trailing Total Return: 18.69%
- Exchange: OTC Markets
One of the oldest insurance companies in the world, Allianz (founded in 1890) is a leading global financial services company that provides products and services ranging from insurance to asset management. It offers products ranging from property and casualty policies to health and life insurance for corporate and individual customers.
The company is headquartered in Munich, Germany, and employs more than 157,000 people.
- Revenue: $125.37 billion
- Net Income: $12.09 billion
- Market Cap: $95.30 billion
- 1-Year Trailing Total Return: -29.76%
- Exchange: OTC Markets
Ping An Insurance provides insurance, financial services, and banking. It is one of the top 50 companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Founded in 1988, it was China’s first joint-stock insurance company. Ping An is headquartered in Shenzhen, China, and employs about 350,000 people. Its five operating segments are:
- Life and Health: Includes Ping An Life, Ping An Annuity, and Ping An Health Insurance,
- Property & Casualty: Ping An Property & Casualty provides insurance products for automobiles, cargo, engineering, accident and health, credit, home contents, and reinsurance.
- Banking: Provides retail, corporate, and interbank banking services through Ping An Bank.
- Asset Management: This segment includes Ping An Trust, Ping An Securities, Ping An Financial Leasing, and Ping An Asset Management and provides a wide range of portfolio management, advisory, and brokerage services.
- Technology: This segment focuses on research and development, with more than 20,000 developers and 3,000 scientists working to improve the company’s solutions.
- Revenue: $106.44 billion
- Net Income: $2.49 billion
- Market Cap: $46.22 billion
- 1-Year Trailing Total Return: -14.98%
- Exchange: New York Stock Exchange
Humana is headquartered in Louisville, KY, and employs about 67,000 people. It conducted a realignment in 2022, resulting in two segments, Insurance and CenterWell. The insurance segment includes Medicare, military, state-based, group, and individual programs.
CenterWell is Humana’s pharmacy, older adult primary care, and home solutions segment.
- Revenue: $93.68 billion
- Net Income: $7.57 billion
- Market Cap: $78.69 billion
- 1-Year Trailing Total Return: 14.18%
- Exchange: OTC Markets
AXA is ranked ninth among the world’s leading insurance groups. Its major businesses include property and casualty insurance, life insurance, savings, and asset management. AXA is headquartered in Paris, France, and employs more than 147,000 people.
Several insurance companies merged to create AXA in the 1990s. AXA operates and reports in six business segments, generally broken down by geography:
- France: A full range of insurance products are offered, from life, health, motor, household, property, liability, and more.
- Europe: Provides a full range of insurance products and services.
- Asia, Africa & EME-LATAM: Subsidiaries provide property, casualty, protection, health, and savings insurance services in Japan, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
- AXA Investment Managers: Provides asset management services across 18 countries.
- Transversal & Other: Includes non-operating activities and business lines in motor and homes, travel, and energy.
- Revenue: $69.98 billion
- Net Income: $4.98 billion
- Market Cap: $66.54 billion
- 1-Year Trailing Total Return: 32.61%
- Exchange: OTC Markets
Munich Re Group is an insurance and reinsurance company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It employs over 42,000 people worldwide and has regional offices across the U.S., Australia, Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia.
MURGY operates in two fields of business and five segments:
- ERGO: Life and Health Germany, Property and Casualty Germany, International
- Reinsurance: Life and Health and Property and Casualty global reinsurance
Who Is the Largest Insurance Company In the World?
United Health Group is the largest insurance company by revenue.
What Is the Wealthiest Insurance Company In the World?
While United Health Group is the largest insurance company by revenue, it is dwarfed by Berkshire Hathaway in terms of net income and market cap.
What Is the #1 Insurance In America?
It depends on who you talk to and the metrics you use to determine the top insurance provider.
The Bottom Line
The top 10 insurance companies by annual revenue are United Health Group, Berkshire Hathaway, CVS, Cigna, Centene, Allianz, Ping An, Humana, Axa, and Muenchener Rueckver.
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As of the date this article was written, the author does not own stock in the companies discussed here.
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