Humana (NYSE:HUM) Stock Rating Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Humana (NYSE:HUM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

HUM has been the topic of a number of other reports. HSBC cut Humana to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial raised Humana from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $520.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Humana from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $513.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Humana from a “hold” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $463.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Humana from $405.00 to $495.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $453.30.

Humana Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HUM opened at $421.56 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $397.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $351.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.88, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.74. Humana has a one year low of $163.11 and a one year high of $456.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The insurance provider reported $7.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.27 by $0.34. Humana had a net margin of 0.88% and a return on equity of 11.20%. The company had revenue of $40.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Humana will post 9.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Humana Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 27th. Investors of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a $0.8850 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Humana’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Humana in the second quarter worth $4,138,160,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Humana during the second quarter valued at $1,749,014,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Humana by 20,126.8% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,255,479 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $479,053,000 after acquiring an additional 1,249,272 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Humana in the 2nd quarter worth about $329,760,000. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new position in shares of Humana in the 2nd quarter worth about $314,922,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.38% of the company’s stock.

About Humana

Humana Inc is a health and well-being company that provides insurance products and health care services in the United States and Puerto Rico. The company’s primary business is government-sponsored health coverage, particularly Medicare Advantage plans for older adults, along with Medicare prescription drug plans, Medicaid coverage and certain commercial health insurance products.

Humana also operates CenterWell, its health care services platform focused on older adults. CenterWell includes primary care clinics, home health services and pharmacy services, with an emphasis on coordinated care, chronic-condition management and helping members receive care in lower-cost settings.

Founded in 1961 as a nursing-home company, Humana expanded into hospital operations before shifting its focus toward health insurance and related services.