B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Takes Position in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,612 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,778,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its stake in shares of Humana by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 11,387 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,606,000 after purchasing an additional 927 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Humana in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $701,000. S&CO Inc. raised its holdings in Humana by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. S&CO Inc. now owns 33,760 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,693,000 after buying an additional 4,762 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Humana by 55.6% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 600,317 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $190,145,000 after buying an additional 214,535 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AM Squared Ltd raised its holdings in Humana by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. AM Squared Ltd now owns 300 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 92.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on HUM shares. Leerink Partners lowered shares of Humana from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $400.00 to $250.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Humana from $349.00 to $250.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Humana from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Humana from $380.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Humana from $332.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Humana currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $315.86.

Humana Price Performance

HUM opened at $298.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.76. The company has a market capitalization of $35.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $276.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $330.64. Humana Inc. has a 1 year low of $213.31 and a 1 year high of $527.18.

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

Humana Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.885 per share. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Humana’s payout ratio is 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.