Howard Capital Management Inc. Acquires 1,069 Shares of Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) by 12.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,902 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Humana were worth $2,512,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Humana during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new stake in shares of Humana during the fourth quarter worth approximately $16,952,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Humana by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $148,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp increased its holdings in shares of Humana by 122.0% during the fourth quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 1,456 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $369,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its holdings in shares of Humana by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 399 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on HUM shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $283.00 price objective on shares of Humana in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Humana from $387.00 to $290.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America raised shares of Humana from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $247.00 to $308.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Humana from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Humana from $257.00 to $256.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Humana currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $285.68.

Insider Transactions at Humana

In other news, insider Timothy S. Huval sold 3,703 shares of Humana stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.26, for a total transaction of $948,930.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,096,463.06. This trade represents a 31.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Humana Price Performance

Shares of HUM stock opened at $255.77 on Friday. Humana Inc. has a 52-week low of $213.31 and a 52-week high of $406.46. The stock has a market cap of $30.80 billion, a PE ratio of 25.71, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 1.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $269.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $290.00.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported ($2.16) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.26) by $0.10. Humana had a net margin of 1.02% and a return on equity of 11.70%. As a group, analysts forecast that Humana Inc. will post 16.47 EPS for the current year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.885 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Humana’s dividend payout ratio is 35.58%.

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.