Humana (NYSE:HUM) Price Target Cut to $353.00

Humana (NYSE:HUM) had its price objective cut by Royal Bank of Canada from $415.00 to $353.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on HUM. StockNews.com cut Humana from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Humana from $427.00 to $396.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Humana from $450.00 to $385.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays dropped their target price on Humana from $356.00 to $310.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Argus cut Humana from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $433.74.

Humana Stock Performance

NYSE HUM traded down $3.13 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $308.28. The stock had a trading volume of 646,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,987,464. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $328.56 and a 200 day moving average of $395.71. The stock has a market cap of $37.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.45. Humana has a 52-week low of $299.23 and a 52-week high of $541.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.67.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The insurance provider reported $7.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.12 by $1.11. The company had revenue of $29.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.52 billion. Humana had a return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 1.82%. Humana’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Humana will post 16.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Humana Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a $0.885 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Humana’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.04%.

Insider Activity at Humana

In other Humana news, Director Jorge S. Mesquita acquired 545 shares of Humana stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $367.09 per share, with a total value of $200,064.05. Following the purchase, the director now owns 2,578 shares in the company, valued at $946,358.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Humana

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HUM. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Humana during the 4th quarter worth approximately $676,800,000. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Humana during the 4th quarter worth approximately $489,300,000. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Humana by 550.3% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 875,489 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $400,808,000 after buying an additional 740,858 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Humana by 255.4% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 620,793 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $215,241,000 after buying an additional 446,124 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Humana by 35.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,523,835 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $741,409,000 after buying an additional 402,559 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.38% 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.