Humana (NYSE:HUM) Earns “Neutral” Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald restated their neutral rating on shares of Humana (NYSE:HUM) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $391.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on HUM. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Humana from $550.00 to $400.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 26th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Humana from a b rating to a c+ rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Humana from $507.00 to $415.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Humana from $427.00 to $396.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Humana from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $468.74.

Humana Price Performance

HUM stock opened at $313.11 on Thursday. Humana has a 1 year low of $299.23 and a 1 year high of $541.21. The company has a market cap of $37.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.80, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $353.03 and a 200 day moving average of $435.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.59.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The insurance provider reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.87). Humana had a return on equity of 19.44% and a net margin of 2.34%. The company had revenue of $26.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. Humana’s quarterly revenue was up 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Humana will post 16.02 EPS for the current year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th will be issued a $0.885 dividend. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Humana’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jorge S. Mesquita bought 545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of $367.09 per share, for a total transaction of $200,064.05. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 2,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $946,358.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Humana

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Humana by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,852,050 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,621,731,000 after acquiring an additional 143,883 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Humana by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,234,477 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,082,060,000 after buying an additional 16,692 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Humana by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,040,896 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $992,938,000 after purchasing an additional 119,760 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Humana by 35.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,523,835 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $741,409,000 after purchasing an additional 402,559 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Humana during the 4th quarter worth about $676,800,000. 92.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Humana Company Profile

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.