D.A. Davidson & CO. Increases Stake in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in shares of Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) by 19.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,283 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 205 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Humana were worth $326,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HUM. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Humana by 244.0% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 86 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Humana during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP raised its holdings in Humana by 81.8% during the 3rd quarter. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP now owns 100 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its holdings in Humana by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 153 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC raised its holdings in Humana by 1,021.4% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 157 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. 92.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Humana Stock Performance

Shares of HUM stock opened at $255.06 on Thursday. Humana Inc. has a one year low of $213.31 and a one year high of $406.46. The company’s 50-day moving average is $270.12 and its 200 day moving average is $288.06. The company has a market capitalization of $30.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 1.76.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported ($2.16) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.26) by $0.10. Humana had a net margin of 1.02% and a return on equity of 11.70%. Sell-side analysts expect that Humana Inc. will post 16.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Humana Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.885 per share. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Humana’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HUM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Humana from $301.00 to $285.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Humana from $257.00 to $256.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Humana from $255.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Humana from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Humana from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $247.00 to $308.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $285.68.

Insider Activity 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 8,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,096,463.06. This represents a 31.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.