Machina Capital S.A.S. Grows Stock Holdings in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

Machina Capital S.A.S. lifted its stake in shares of Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) by 30.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,227 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 754 shares during the period. Humana makes up 1.0% of Machina Capital S.A.S.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in Humana were worth $1,477,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in Humana by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 9,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,452,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Humana by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,339 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,529,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Leuthold Group LLC lifted its stake in Humana by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Leuthold Group LLC now owns 18,375 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,412,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Humana by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,488 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,259,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Humana by 93.7% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 131,371 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $61,757,000 after purchasing an additional 63,545 shares during the last quarter. 92.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Humana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $595.00 to $360.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on shares of Humana from $391.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Humana from $334.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Humana from $356.00 to $310.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Stephens reduced their price target on shares of Humana from $550.00 to $430.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Humana has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $424.50.

Insider Transactions at Humana

In other news, Director Jorge S. Mesquita bought 545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $367.09 per share, for a total transaction of $200,064.05. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 2,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $946,358.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Humana Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE:HUM traded up $5.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $324.63. 1,066,934 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,970,725. Humana Inc. has a one year low of $298.61 and a one year high of $541.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $323.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $387.14. The company has a market cap of $39.12 billion, a PE ratio of 19.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.49.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The insurance provider reported $7.23 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 1.82% and a return on equity of 17.76%. Humana’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.38 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Humana Inc. will post 16.18 EPS for the current year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid 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 1.09%. Humana’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.04%.

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.