D.A. Davidson & CO. Buys 726 Shares of Humana Inc. $HUM

D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) by 37.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,658 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 726 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Humana were worth $650,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HUM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Humana by 8.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,972,872 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,697,222,000 after buying an additional 1,143,662 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Humana by 3,257.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,162,600 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $307,624,000 after buying an additional 1,127,973 shares during the period. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. boosted its stake in Humana by 661.7% during the second quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 1,038,703 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $253,942,000 after buying an additional 902,340 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Humana during the first quarter valued at about $171,220,000. Finally, Dodge & Cox raised its position in Humana by 5.5% during the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 10,755,215 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,845,830,000 after purchasing an additional 557,175 shares in the last quarter. 92.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Humana Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:HUM opened at $295.02 on Wednesday. Humana Inc. has a 1 year low of $206.87 and a 1 year high of $315.35. The company has a market cap of $35.48 billion, a PE ratio of 22.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $281.89 and its 200 day moving average is $258.87.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The insurance provider reported $6.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.32 by ($0.05). Humana had a return on equity of 13.67% and a net margin of 1.28%.The firm had revenue of $32.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $6.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Humana Inc. will post 16.47 EPS for the current year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th will be given a $0.885 dividend. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 26th. Humana’s payout ratio is currently 27.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on HUM shares. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Humana from $283.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Humana from $269.00 to $341.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Humana from $283.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Humana in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “sell” rating and a $235.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial set a $300.00 price objective on Humana in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.58.

About Humana

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.