Meritage Portfolio Management Buys 14,778 Shares of Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its stake in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) by 83.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 32,389 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,778 shares during the period. Humana accounts for approximately 1.0% of Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Humana were worth $14,828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Humana by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,040,896 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $992,938,000 after purchasing an additional 119,760 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Humana by 35.9% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,523,835 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $741,409,000 after buying an additional 402,559 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Humana by 5.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,327,489 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $645,850,000 after buying an additional 64,245 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Humana by 1.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 965,488 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $469,729,000 after buying an additional 13,670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Humana by 39.3% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 681,868 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $331,743,000 after buying an additional 192,546 shares in the last quarter. 92.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HUM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Humana from $413.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Barclays cut their price target on Humana from $356.00 to $310.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Humana from $450.00 to $385.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Humana from $391.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Argus cut shares of Humana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $433.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Humana

In related news, Director Jorge S. Mesquita acquired 545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $367.09 per share, for a total transaction of $200,064.05. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $946,358.02. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Humana Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of HUM stock traded down $3.52 on Friday, hitting $307.89. The stock had a trading volume of 638,160 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,987,464. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Humana Inc. has a twelve month low of $299.23 and a twelve month high of $541.21. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $328.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $395.71. The firm has a market cap of $37.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.18, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.45.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The insurance provider reported $7.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.12 by $1.11. Humana had a return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 1.82%. The firm had revenue of $29.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Humana Inc. will post 16.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.885 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. Humana’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.04%.

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.