Humana (NYSE:HUM) Upgraded by Sanford C. Bernstein to Outperform

Humana (NYSE:HUM) was upgraded by stock analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $308.00 target price on the insurance provider’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price objective points to a potential upside of 30.36% from the stock’s previous close.

HUM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Humana from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Humana from $332.00 to $396.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Humana from $349.00 to $250.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Humana from $380.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Humana in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $374.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $331.29.

Humana Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of HUM opened at $236.27 on Tuesday. Humana has a 12-month low of $213.31 and a 12-month high of $530.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $337.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $342.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The insurance provider reported $6.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.89 by $1.07. The business had revenue of $29.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.52 billion. Humana had a net margin of 1.53% and a return on equity of 16.12%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $8.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Humana will post 16.01 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Humana

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HUM. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Humana by 111.4% in the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 74 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in Humana during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Humana in the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in Humana in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Humana during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. 92.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.