Humana (NYSE:HUM) Stock Rating Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Humana (NYSE:HUM) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Sunday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

HUM has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Lake Street Capital assumed coverage on Humana in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Barclays upgraded shares of Humana from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $407.00 to $515.00 in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Humana from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Leerink Partners raised shares of Humana from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $513.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut shares of Humana from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $408.61.

Humana Stock Down 0.2%

HUM opened at $397.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $47.68 billion, a PE ratio of 37.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Humana has a 52 week low of $163.11 and a 52 week high of $428.88. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $386.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $318.79.

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

Humana Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be issued a $0.8850 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Humana’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.49%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Humana

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HUM. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Humana in the second quarter valued at about $4,138,160,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Humana during the second quarter valued at about $1,749,014,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Humana by 113.9% during 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. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Humana by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,094,570 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $536,482,000 after purchasing an additional 376,803 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Humana in the fourth quarter worth about $456,632,000. 92.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Humana

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.