Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA Increases Stock Position in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA boosted its stake in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) by 43.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 165 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 50 shares during the quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA’s holdings in Humana were worth $76,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mariner LLC lifted its position in Humana by 2.3% in the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 14,119 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,869,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Humana by 27.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 27,943 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,595,000 after buying an additional 6,034 shares during the last quarter. Silverarc Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Humana in the third quarter valued at about $4,865,000. Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Humana by 43.3% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 27,993 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,815,000 after buying an additional 8,455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its holdings in shares of Humana by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 64,573 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,563,000 after buying an additional 5,672 shares during the last quarter. 92.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Humana Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of HUM opened at $327.84 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $329.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $398.38. Humana Inc. has a twelve month low of $299.23 and a twelve month high of $541.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.45.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The insurance provider reported $7.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.12 by $1.11. The business had revenue of $29.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.52 billion. Humana had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 19.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.38 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Humana Inc. will post 16.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a $0.885 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. Humana’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 target price (down from $530.00) on shares of Humana in a report on Friday, January 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Humana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $595.00 to $360.00 in a report on Thursday, January 25th. TheStreet cut shares of Humana from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Humana from $427.00 to $396.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Humana from $413.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 8th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $454.63.

Insider Activity

In other Humana news, Director Jorge S. Mesquita purchased 545 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $367.09 per share, for a total transaction 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 $946,358.02. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.29% 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.