Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) Short Interest Update

Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,660,000 shares, a drop of 14.9% from the February 13th total of 4,300,000 shares. Currently, 3.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,730,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Insider Transactions at Humana

In related news, insider Timothy S. Huval sold 3,703 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.26, for a total transaction of $948,930.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,181 shares in the company, valued at $2,096,463.06. This trade represents a 31.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Humana

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Humana by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,829,210 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,254,899,000 after buying an additional 1,751,857 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its holdings in Humana by 106.7% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 10,198,040 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,587,345,000 after buying an additional 5,264,045 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Humana by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,357,420 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,701,582,000 after buying an additional 53,272 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Humana by 44.0% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,609,382 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $915,736,000 after buying an additional 1,103,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in Humana by 23.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,388,859 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,073,387,000 after buying an additional 643,291 shares during the last quarter. 92.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HUM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Humana from $255.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $283.00 price objective on shares of Humana in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Humana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Humana from $301.00 to $285.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Humana from $257.00 to $256.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $285.68.

Humana Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE HUM traded down $3.89 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $265.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 570,290 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,710,654. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Humana has a fifty-two week low of $213.31 and a fifty-two week high of $406.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.76, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $271.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $278.29.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported ($2.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.26) by $0.10. Humana had a net margin of 1.02% and a return on equity of 11.70%. Equities research analysts predict that Humana will post 16.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.885 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Humana’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.58%.

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.