Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) Shares Purchased by Atwood & Palmer Inc.

Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its stake in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) by 64.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 153 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc.’s holdings in Humana were worth $39,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HUM. FNY Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in Humana by 6,647.5% during the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 27,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,916,000 after buying an additional 26,856 shares during the period. PDT Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Humana by 190.0% during the 3rd quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 4,060 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,286,000 after acquiring an additional 2,660 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board boosted its position in Humana by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 1,173,535 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $371,705,000 after purchasing an additional 71,910 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in Humana by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 105,976 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $33,567,000 after purchasing an additional 3,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Humana during the third quarter worth about $948,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on HUM shares. Leerink Partnrs downgraded Humana from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Humana from $400.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Humana in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Humana from $387.00 to $290.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Humana from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $302.70.

Insider Activity at Humana

In other news, insider Timothy S. Huval sold 3,703 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.26, for a total transaction of $948,930.78. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,096,463.06. The trade was a 31.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Humana Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HUM opened at $282.63 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $273.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $307.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.76. The stock has a market cap of $34.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.03, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.55. Humana Inc. has a 12 month low of $213.31 and a 12 month high of $415.73.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $4.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $29.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.66 billion. Humana had a return on equity of 13.20% and a net margin of 1.18%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Humana Inc. will post 16.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors 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 1.25%. Humana’s payout ratio is currently 31.36%.

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.