Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Raises Stock Position in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its position in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 9,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Humana were worth $4,452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HUM. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Humana by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 9,196 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,474,000 after acquiring an additional 2,124 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in shares of Humana by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,294 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $630,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Humana by 17.3% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,124,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Humana by 10.2% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 44,643 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $21,720,000 after purchasing an additional 4,138 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Humana by 80.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 69,277 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $33,838,000 after purchasing an additional 30,964 shares during the period. 92.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on HUM shares. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on Humana from $391.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Humana from $411.00 to $381.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Argus downgraded shares of Humana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Barclays decreased their target price on Humana from $356.00 to $310.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $342.00 price objective (down previously from $470.00) on shares of Humana in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Humana currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $424.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Humana

In related news, Director Jorge S. Mesquita acquired 545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $367.09 per share, for a total transaction of $200,064.05. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $946,358.02. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Humana Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE HUM traded up $5.57 on Tuesday, reaching $324.80. 659,043 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,969,613. Humana Inc. has a 12 month low of $298.61 and a 12 month high of $541.21. The company has a market cap of $39.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.98, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $323.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $387.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The insurance provider reported $7.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.12 by $1.11. The firm had revenue of $29.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.52 billion. Humana had a return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 1.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.38 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Humana Inc. will post 16.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $0.885 dividend. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Humana’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.04%.

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.