Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) Short Interest Up 15.9% in October

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

HUM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler downgraded Humana from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $392.00 to $274.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Humana from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Humana from $380.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Humana from $400.00 to $260.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Humana from $400.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Humana currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $315.86.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Humana

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Humana by 3.0% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Humana in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,456,000. Mandatum Life Insurance Co Ltd boosted its stake in Humana by 115.4% during the third quarter. Mandatum Life Insurance Co Ltd now owns 14,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,434,000 after buying an additional 7,500 shares during the period. APG Asset Management US Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,955 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Humana by 472.1% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 10,098 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,501,000 after acquiring an additional 8,333 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.38% of the company’s stock.

Humana Trading Down 2.6 %

HUM opened at $275.67 on Monday. Humana has a 1-year low of $213.31 and a 1-year high of $527.18. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $281.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $331.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $33.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.52.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $4.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $29.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.66 billion. Humana had a net margin of 1.18% and a return on equity of 13.20%. Analysts predict that Humana will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.885 per share. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Humana’s payout ratio is 31.36%.

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.