Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases New Position in Humana Inc. $HUM

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,764 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $701,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Humana during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,138,160,000. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Humana by 113.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,818,008 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,490,239,000 after purchasing an additional 3,097,571 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Humana by 34.3% in the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 5,470,982 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $948,614,000 after purchasing an additional 1,398,774 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Humana by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,462,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,403,877,000 after purchasing an additional 97,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Humana by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,184,569 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $812,540,000 after purchasing an additional 23,732 shares in the last quarter. 92.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Humana Stock Performance

HUM stock opened at $384.25 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.11 and a 1 year high of $428.88. The company has a market cap of $46.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $386.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $290.60.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The insurance provider reported $7.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.27 by $0.34. The company 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%.Humana’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.27 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Humana Inc. will post 9.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on HUM shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Humana from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Humana from $264.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Humana in a report on Monday, August 24th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Humana from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Humana in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Humana presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $403.91.

Humana Company Profile

Humana Inc (NYSE: HUM) is a health insurance company headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that primarily serves individuals and groups across the United States. The company is best known for its Medicare business, offering Medicare Advantage plans and prescription drug (Part D) coverage, alongside a range of commercial and employer-sponsored group health plans. Humana’s products are designed to cover medical, behavioral health and pharmacy needs for members, with particular emphasis on seniors and Medicare-eligible populations.

In addition to traditional insurance products, Humana provides care-management and wellness services intended to support chronic-condition management, preventive care and care coordination.