Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Humana Put Options (NYSE:HUM)

Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 32,654 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 150% compared to the average daily volume of 13,059 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Humana by 538.7% during the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,318,347 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $866,250,000 after acquiring an additional 1,955,375 shares during the last quarter. Davis Selected Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Humana by 16.1% in the 2nd quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 2,311,362 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $863,640,000 after purchasing an additional 321,233 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Humana by 118.9% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,425,302 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $532,564,000 after purchasing an additional 774,085 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Humana by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,183,985 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $442,396,000 after purchasing an additional 24,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its holdings in Humana by 11,647.2% during the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 1,059,478 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $367,342,000 after buying an additional 1,050,459 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HUM. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Humana from $261.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Humana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $519.00 to $253.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America lowered Humana from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $376.00 to $247.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Humana from $400.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on Humana in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector weight” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $312.95.

Humana Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HUM opened at $255.55 on Tuesday. Humana has a 12-month low of $213.31 and a 12-month high of $527.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $295.11 and a 200 day moving average of $334.03.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $4.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.68. The firm 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Humana will post 16.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.885 per share. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Humana’s payout ratio is 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.