VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Buys New Shares in Humana Inc. $HUM

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 11,284 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,482,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HUM. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Humana by 39,982.9% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 68,644,780 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $27,267,080,000 after acquiring an additional 68,473,523 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Humana during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,138,160,000. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Humana by 113.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,818,008 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,490,239,000 after purchasing an additional 3,097,571 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Humana by 34.3% in the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 5,470,982 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $948,614,000 after purchasing an additional 1,398,774 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Humana by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,462,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,403,877,000 after purchasing an additional 97,211 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Humana from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Humana in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised Humana from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $227.00 to $502.00 in a report on Monday, July 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Humana in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Evercore raised Humana from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Humana presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $403.91.

Humana Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HUM opened at $401.06 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $388.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $301.31. Humana Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.11 and a 52 week high of $428.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.94, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.74.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The insurance provider reported $7.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.27 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $40.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.58 billion. Humana had a net margin of 0.88% and a return on equity of 11.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.27 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Humana Inc. will post 9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a $0.885 dividend. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. Humana’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.49%.

Humana Profile

Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) is a U.S.-based health insurance and health care services company focused primarily on government-sponsored programs. Its offerings include Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare prescription drug plans, Medicaid coverage and specialty insurance products, serving individuals, employers and government organizations.

Through its CenterWell business, Humana also provides senior-focused primary care, pharmacy services and home health care. These operations are designed to support coordinated care for older adults and other members with ongoing health care needs.

Humana was founded in 1961 as a nursing-home company and later expanded into hospital ownership before shifting its focus toward health insurance.