Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. Increases Stock Holdings in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) by 100.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,464 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,732 shares during the period. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Humana were worth $2,909,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Humana during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Humana during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Humana during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its stake in Humana by 64.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Humana during the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. 92.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on HUM shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $283.00 price target on shares of Humana in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Humana from $301.00 to $285.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $290.00 price target on shares of Humana in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Humana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Humana from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Humana currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $285.68.

Humana Stock Performance

NYSE HUM opened at $265.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.76. Humana Inc. has a 1-year low of $213.31 and a 1-year high of $406.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $271.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $284.78.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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%. Equities analysts predict that Humana Inc. will post 16.47 EPS for the current year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Humana’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.58%.

Insider Activity at Humana

In other news, insider Timothy S. Huval sold 3,703 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.26, for a total value of $948,930.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,096,463.06. This represents a 31.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Humana 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.