Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-four analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $285.68.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on HUM. StockNews.com raised Humana from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $283.00 price objective on shares of Humana in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America upgraded Humana from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $247.00 to $308.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Humana from $261.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Humana from $257.00 to $256.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Humana

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

Institutional Trading of Humana

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HUM. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Humana by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,829,210 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,254,899,000 after purchasing an additional 1,751,857 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox lifted its stake in shares of Humana by 106.7% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 10,198,040 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,587,345,000 after purchasing an additional 5,264,045 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Humana by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,357,420 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,701,582,000 after purchasing an additional 53,272 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Humana by 44.0% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,609,382 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $915,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,103,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in Humana by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,388,859 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,073,387,000 after acquiring an additional 643,291 shares in the last quarter. 92.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Humana Trading Up 3.6 %

Shares of NYSE:HUM opened at $270.91 on Monday. Humana has a 12-month low of $213.31 and a 12-month high of $406.46. The company has a market capitalization of $32.68 billion, a PE ratio of 27.23, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a 50 day moving average of $271.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $287.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported ($2.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.26) by $0.10. Humana had a return on equity of 11.70% and a net margin of 1.02%. As a group, analysts forecast that Humana will post 16.47 EPS for the current year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.885 dividend. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Humana’s payout ratio is currently 35.58%.

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.