Humana (NYSE:HUM) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) shares gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $325.00 to $305.00. The stock had previously closed at $252.86, but opened at $244.43. Truist Financial currently has a hold rating on the stock. Humana shares last traded at $235.74, with a volume of 345,626 shares traded.

HUM has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Humana from $257.00 to $256.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Humana from $270.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Humana from $270.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Humana from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Humana from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $286.81.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HUM. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Humana by 6.9% during the first quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 136,363 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $36,082,000 after acquiring an additional 8,771 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Humana by 11.1% during the first quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,733 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $988,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of Humana by 5.5% during the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 202,903 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $53,688,000 after acquiring an additional 10,496 shares in the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Humana by 7.4% during the first quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 42,795 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $11,323,000 after buying an additional 2,958 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Humana by 8.3% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 7,630 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,019,000 after buying an additional 583 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.38% of the company’s stock.

Humana Trading Down 6.8%

The company has a market capitalization of $28.45 billion, a PE ratio of 23.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s fifty day moving average is $265.02 and its 200-day moving average is $270.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.76.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $11.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.07 by $1.51. Humana had a net margin of 1.02% and a return on equity of 11.70%. The firm had revenue of $32.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $7.23 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Humana Inc. will post 16.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Humana Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a $0.885 dividend. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. Humana’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.04%.

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.