Piper Sandler Raises Humana (NYSE:HUM) Price Target to $288.00

Humana (NYSE:HUM) had its price target boosted by Piper Sandler from $270.00 to $288.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $395.00 target price on shares of Humana in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen upped their target price on Humana from $261.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp began coverage on Humana in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Bank of America raised Humana from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $247.00 to $308.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays raised 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $302.70.

Humana Stock Performance

NYSE HUM opened at $273.00 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $32.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.55. 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 50-day moving average of $274.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $309.10. Humana has a 1-year low of $213.31 and a 1-year high of $455.53.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $4.16 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $28.66 billion. Humana had a return on equity of 13.20% and a net margin of 1.18%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Humana will post 16.14 EPS for the current year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.885 per share. 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 1.30%. Humana’s dividend payout ratio is 31.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Timothy S. Huval sold 3,703 shares of Humana 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 transaction, the insider now owns 8,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,096,463.06. The trade was a 31.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Humana by 118.9% in the second 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 in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Humana by 261,025.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,984 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,340,660,000 after purchasing an additional 738,701 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Humana by 23.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,388,859 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,073,387,000 after purchasing an additional 643,291 shares in the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA purchased a new position in Humana in the second quarter valued at about $156,933,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in Humana by 639.8% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 385,782 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $144,147,000 after purchasing an additional 333,636 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.38% of the company’s stock.

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.