William Blair Investment Management LLC Increases Stake in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,045 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,172 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Humana were worth $4,578,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Humana during the third quarter valued at $701,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its stake in Humana by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 11,387 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,606,000 after acquiring an additional 927 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Humana during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,778,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Humana by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 333,725 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $105,704,000 after acquiring an additional 13,945 shares during the period. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board boosted its holdings in Humana by 6.5% in the third 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Timothy S. Huval sold 3,703 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.26, for a total value of $948,930.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,181 shares in the company, valued at $2,096,463.06. This trade represents a 31.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HUM has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Humana from $270.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Humana from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Humana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $283.00 price target on shares of Humana in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Humana from $255.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $285.68.

Humana Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE HUM opened at $267.01 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 1.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $271.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $278.21. Humana Inc. has a 52-week low of $213.31 and a 52-week high of $406.46.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported ($2.16) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.26) by $0.10. Humana had a net margin of 1.02% and a return on equity of 11.70%. Sell-side analysts expect that Humana Inc. will post 16.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.885 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Humana’s payout ratio is 35.58%.

Humana 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.