Canoe Financial LP Invests $62,000 in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

Canoe Financial LP bought a new stake in shares of Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 243 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $62,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HUM. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Humana by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,819 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $461,000 after buying an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new position in Humana during the fourth quarter valued at $2,524,000. Beech Hill Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Humana in the 4th quarter valued at $207,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in Humana by 77.8% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,635 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,191,000 after purchasing an additional 3,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Humana by 21.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,969 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,261,000 after purchasing an additional 879 shares during the last quarter. 92.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Humana

In other Humana news, insider Timothy S. Huval sold 3,703 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.26, for a total transaction of $948,930.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,181 shares in the company, valued at $2,096,463.06. This represents a 31.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HUM shares. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Humana from $400.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America raised Humana from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $247.00 to $308.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Humana in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Humana from $261.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective on shares of Humana in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $302.70.

Humana Stock Performance

HUM stock opened at $282.63 on Friday. Humana Inc. has a twelve month low of $213.31 and a twelve month high of $415.73. The firm has a market cap of $34.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.03, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $273.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $308.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $29.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.66 billion. Humana had a net margin of 1.18% and a return on equity of 13.20%. Analysts predict that Humana Inc. will post 16.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Humana Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.885 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a 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.