Cantor Fitzgerald Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Humana (NYSE:HUM)

Cantor Fitzgerald reissued their neutral rating on shares of Humana (NYSE:HUM) in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $391.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock.

HUM has been the subject of several other reports. Bank of America reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $342.00 target price (down from $470.00) on shares of Humana in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Humana from a buy rating to a hold rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $595.00 to $360.00 in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Humana from $507.00 to $415.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 26th. Truist Financial reiterated a hold rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Humana in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on Humana in a report on Friday, March 22nd. They issued a market perform rating for the company. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $465.42.

Humana Stock Performance

Shares of Humana stock opened at $312.59 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $347.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $429.79. The company has a market capitalization of $37.71 billion, a PE ratio of 15.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Humana has a 52 week low of $299.23 and a 52 week high of $541.21.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The insurance provider reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.87). The business had revenue of $26.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. Humana had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 19.44%. The business’s revenue was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Humana will post 16.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Humana Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be issued a $0.885 dividend. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Humana’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.86%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jorge S. Mesquita acquired 545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $367.09 per share, with a total value of $200,064.05. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 2,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $946,358.02. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Humana

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Humana by 0.5% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,708,167 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,776,072,000 after acquiring an additional 25,832 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Humana by 0.8% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,234,477 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,082,060,000 after acquiring an additional 16,692 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Humana by 6.2% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,040,896 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $992,938,000 after acquiring an additional 119,760 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Humana by 35.9% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,523,835 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $741,409,000 after acquiring an additional 402,559 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Humana in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $676,800,000. 92.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.