Humana (NYSE:HUM) Shares Up 1.9%

Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) traded up 1.9% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $324.38 and last traded at $323.46. 1,956,514 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 3% from the average session volume of 2,015,295 shares. The stock had previously closed at $317.52.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. TheStreet cut shares of Humana from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Humana from $427.00 to $396.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Humana from $507.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Humana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $595.00 to $360.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Argus lowered shares of Humana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $465.42.

Humana Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.59. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $343.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $425.01. The company has a market cap of $39.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.39, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.45.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The insurance provider reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.87). The firm had revenue of $26.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. Humana had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 19.44%. The company’s revenue was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Humana Inc. will post 16.06 EPS for the current year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a $0.885 dividend. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. Humana’s payout ratio is currently 17.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Humana

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of HUM. Mariner LLC increased its stake in Humana by 2.3% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 14,119 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,869,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Humana by 27.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 27,943 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $13,595,000 after purchasing an additional 6,034 shares during the period. Silverarc Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Humana during the third quarter worth about $4,865,000. Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in Humana by 43.3% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 27,993 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,815,000 after purchasing an additional 8,455 shares during the period. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its stake in Humana by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 64,573 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,563,000 after purchasing an additional 5,672 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.38% of the company’s stock.

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.