Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) Short Interest Update

Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,380,000 shares, an increase of 15.9% from the October 15th total of 3,780,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,230,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days. Approximately 3.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Humana

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HUM. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Humana by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 105,976 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $33,567,000 after purchasing an additional 3,085 shares during the period. Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Humana in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,456,000. Mandatum Life Insurance Co Ltd grew its position in shares of Humana by 115.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mandatum Life Insurance Co Ltd now owns 14,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,434,000 after buying an additional 7,500 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. grew its stake in Humana by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 67,669 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,274,000 after buying an additional 1,955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Humana by 472.1% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 10,098 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,501,000 after buying an additional 8,333 shares during the last quarter. 92.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HUM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Humana from $349.00 to $250.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Humana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $519.00 to $253.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Humana from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $247.00 to $308.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Humana from $380.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Humana from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $392.00 to $274.00 in a research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $315.86.

Humana Stock Performance

HUM stock opened at $275.67 on Monday. Humana has a one year low of $213.31 and a one year high of $527.18. The firm has a market cap of $33.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.42, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 1.76. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $281.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $331.94.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $4.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.68. Humana had a net margin of 1.18% and a return on equity of 13.20%. The firm had revenue of $29.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.66 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Humana will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.28%. Humana’s payout ratio is currently 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.