Humana (NYSE:HUM) Shares Up 3.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) shares traded up 3.1% during trading on Wednesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $288.00 to $301.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Humana traded as high as $242.40 and last traded at $241.04. 1,641,389 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 12% from the average session volume of 1,861,497 shares. The stock had previously closed at $233.89.

HUM has been the subject of several other research reports. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Humana from $400.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Humana from $400.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Humana from $400.00 to $260.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Humana from $349.00 to $250.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Humana from $380.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Humana currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $300.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Humana

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Humana by 538.7% during the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,318,347 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $866,250,000 after acquiring an additional 1,955,375 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Humana by 118.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,425,302 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $532,564,000 after purchasing an additional 774,085 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Humana by 261,025.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,984 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,340,660,000 after purchasing an additional 738,701 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Humana by 23.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,388,859 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,073,387,000 after buying an additional 643,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baupost Group LLC MA bought a new position in Humana during the second quarter valued at approximately $156,933,000. Institutional investors own 92.38% of the company’s stock.

Humana Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 1.76. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $274.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $322.31. The firm has a market cap of $28.88 billion, a PE ratio of 21.24, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.53.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $4.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.68. Humana had a net margin of 1.18% and a return on equity of 13.20%. The firm had revenue of $29.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.66 billion. Equities analysts predict that Humana Inc. will post 16.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.885 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Humana’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.36%.

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.