Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-five analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $302.00.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Humana from $400.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Humana in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Humana from $400.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America upgraded Humana from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $247.00 to $308.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Humana from $380.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Timothy S. Huval sold 3,703 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.26, for a total value of $948,930.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,181 shares in the company, valued at $2,096,463.06. The trade was a 31.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Humana

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HUM. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Humana by 118.9% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,425,302 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $532,564,000 after acquiring an additional 774,085 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Humana by 261,025.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,984 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,340,660,000 after purchasing an additional 738,701 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Humana by 23.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,388,859 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,073,387,000 after buying an additional 643,291 shares during the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA bought a new stake in Humana during the second quarter valued at approximately $156,933,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Humana by 639.8% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 385,782 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $144,147,000 after buying an additional 333,636 shares during the period. 92.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Humana Price Performance

Shares of Humana stock opened at $268.22 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a fifty day moving average of $273.07 and a 200-day moving average of $311.56. Humana has a 52-week low of $213.31 and a 52-week high of $462.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 1.76.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $4.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $29.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.66 billion. Humana had a return on equity of 13.20% and a net margin of 1.18%. Equities research analysts expect that Humana will post 16.14 EPS for the current year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.885 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Humana’s payout ratio is presently 31.36%.

About Humana

Humana Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides medical and specialty insurance products in the United States. It operates through two segments, Insurance and CenterWell. The company offers medical and supplemental benefit plans to individuals. It has a contract with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to administer the Limited Income Newly Eligible Transition prescription drug plan program; and contracts with various states to provide Medicaid, dual eligible, and long-term support services benefits.