Humana (NYSE:HUM) Shares Up 0.5%

Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) traded up 0.5% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $322.71 and last traded at $320.85. 160,952 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 1,964,446 shares. The stock had previously closed at $319.23.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Humana from $415.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Humana from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. TheStreet lowered Humana from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $342.00 price objective (down from $470.00) on shares of Humana in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of Humana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $424.50.

Humana Stock Up 1.7 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $323.55 and a 200 day moving average of $387.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.49.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The insurance provider reported $7.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.12 by $1.11. Humana had a net margin of 1.82% and a return on equity of 17.76%. The company had revenue of $29.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $9.38 EPS. Humana’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Humana Inc. will post 16.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Humana Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.885 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. Humana’s dividend payout ratio is 22.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Humana news, Director Jorge S. Mesquita purchased 545 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $367.09 per share, for a total transaction of $200,064.05. Following the purchase, the director now owns 2,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $946,358.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Humana by 30.0% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 9,196 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,474,000 after buying an additional 2,124 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its position in shares of Humana by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,294 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $630,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in shares of Humana by 17.3% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,124,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Humana by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 44,643 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $21,720,000 after purchasing an additional 4,138 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Humana by 80.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 69,277 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $33,838,000 after purchasing an additional 30,964 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.38% of the company’s stock.

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.