Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $403.91 According to Analysts

Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the thirty brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $403.91.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on HUM. Zacks Research downgraded Humana from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Barclays upped their target price on Humana from $344.00 to $407.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Bank of America upgraded Humana from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Humana in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Leerink Partners raised shares of Humana from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $513.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th.

Institutional Trading of Humana

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HUM. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Humana in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,138,160,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Humana during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,749,014,000. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Humana by 113.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,818,008 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,490,239,000 after acquiring an additional 3,097,571 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Humana by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,184,569 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $812,540,000 after acquiring an additional 23,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Humana by 21.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 376,803 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.38% of the company’s stock.

Humana Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of Humana stock opened at $381.14 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $386.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $317.25. The company has a market cap of $45.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.74. Humana has a fifty-two week low of $163.11 and a fifty-two week high of $428.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last posted its 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 net margin of 0.88% and a return on equity of 11.20%. The business had revenue of $40.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Humana will post 9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Humana Announces Dividend

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

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.