Humana Inc. $HUM Shares Sold by Davis Selected Advisers

Davis Selected Advisers reduced its stake in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) by 29.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,652,734 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 678,609 shares during the quarter. Humana accounts for approximately 2.2% of Davis Selected Advisers’ portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Davis Selected Advisers’ holdings in Humana were worth $404,060,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Humana by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,972,872 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,697,222,000 after acquiring an additional 1,143,662 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Humana by 3,257.5% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,162,600 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $307,624,000 after buying an additional 1,127,973 shares during the last quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. grew its position in shares of Humana by 661.7% in the second quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 1,038,703 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $253,942,000 after purchasing an additional 902,340 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Humana during the first quarter worth approximately $171,220,000. Finally, Dodge & Cox grew its position in Humana by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 10,755,215 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,845,830,000 after purchasing an additional 557,175 shares during the last quarter. 92.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Humana from $344.00 to $347.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Humana in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $235.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Humana in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Humana from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Humana from $300.00 to $297.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $298.39.

Humana Stock Performance

NYSE HUM opened at $236.75 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $272.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $258.23. Humana Inc. has a 12-month low of $206.87 and a 12-month high of $315.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $28.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.42.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The insurance provider reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.95 by $0.29. Humana had a net margin of 1.28% and a return on equity of 13.67%. The company had revenue of $32.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.16 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Humana Inc. 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, January 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 26th will be paid a $0.885 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 26th. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Humana’s payout ratio is currently 33.18%.

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.