Demars Financial Group LLC Grows Position in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

Demars Financial Group LLC raised its position in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,950 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Humana were worth $618,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Humana by 538.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,318,347 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $866,250,000 after buying an additional 1,955,375 shares during the period. Davis Selected Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Humana by 16.1% in the 2nd quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 2,311,362 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $863,640,000 after purchasing an additional 321,233 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Humana by 118.9% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,425,302 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $532,564,000 after acquiring an additional 774,085 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Humana by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,183,985 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $442,396,000 after buying an additional 24,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its holdings in shares of Humana by 11,647.2% in the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 1,059,478 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $367,342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,459 shares during the last quarter. 92.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on HUM shares. Leerink Partnrs lowered Humana from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on Humana from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America upgraded Humana from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $247.00 to $308.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $395.00 price target on shares of Humana in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Leerink Partners downgraded Humana from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $400.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $315.86.

Humana Price Performance

HUM traded up $0.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $288.12. 1,691,681 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,587,340. Humana Inc. has a twelve month low of $213.31 and a twelve month high of $527.18. The company has a market cap of $34.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.76. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $289.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $332.67.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $4.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.68. Humana had a net margin of 1.18% and a return on equity of 13.20%. The business had revenue of $29.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.66 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Humana Inc. will post 15.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.885 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. Humana’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.36%.

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.