Humana (NYSE:HUM) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Humana (NYSE:HUM) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

HUM has been the subject of several other research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $390.00 price objective on Humana in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Humana from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $227.00 to $502.00 in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Humana in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Evercore upgraded Humana from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Humana from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $403.91.

Humana Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE HUM opened at $385.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The company has a market capitalization of $46.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $388.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $311.75. Humana has a one year low of $163.11 and a one year high of $428.88.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The insurance provider reported $7.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.27 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $40.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.58 billion. Humana had a return on equity of 11.20% and a net margin of 0.88%.The business’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.27 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Humana will post 9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Humana

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HUM. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Humana by 24.6% in the second quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 167 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Humana by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,883 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Humana by 192.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 73 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Humana by 0.9% in the first quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 5,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $976,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Humana by 20.0% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 324 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $129,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.38% of the company’s stock.

Humana Company Profile

Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) is a U.S.-based health insurance and health care services company focused primarily on government-sponsored programs. Its offerings include Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare prescription drug plans, Medicaid coverage and specialty insurance products, serving individuals, employers and government organizations.

Through its CenterWell business, Humana also provides senior-focused primary care, pharmacy services and home health care. These operations are designed to support coordinated care for older adults and other members with ongoing health care needs.

Humana was founded in 1961 as a nursing-home company and later expanded into hospital ownership before shifting its focus toward health insurance.