Avanza Fonder AB Acquires Shares of 9,947 Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new stake in shares of Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 9,947 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,524,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Humana by 118.9% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,425,302 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $532,564,000 after purchasing an additional 774,085 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Humana by 261,025.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,984 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,340,660,000 after buying an additional 738,701 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Humana by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,388,859 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,073,387,000 after buying an additional 643,291 shares in the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA bought a new position in shares of Humana in the 2nd quarter valued at about $156,933,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Humana by 639.8% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 385,782 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $144,147,000 after acquiring an additional 333,636 shares in the last quarter. 92.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Humana Stock Up 2.5 %

NYSE:HUM opened at $282.63 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $34.03 billion, a PE ratio of 25.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a 50-day moving average of $273.92 and a 200 day moving average of $308.67. Humana Inc. has a 1-year low of $213.31 and a 1-year high of $415.73.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $4.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $29.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.66 billion. Humana had a net margin of 1.18% and a return on equity of 13.20%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Humana Inc. will post 16.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Humana Dividend Announcement

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 $0.885 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Humana’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Humana from $288.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Leerink Partnrs lowered Humana from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Humana from $349.00 to $250.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Humana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $519.00 to $253.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Humana from $400.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Humana currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $302.70.

Insider Transactions at Humana

In other Humana news, insider Timothy S. Huval sold 3,703 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.26, for a total value of $948,930.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,096,463.06. The trade was a 31.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.