Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Acquires New Shares in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 99 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $31,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HUM. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Humana by 244.0% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 86 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Humana by 111.4% in the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 74 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Humana during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP raised its position in Humana by 81.8% in the third quarter. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP now owns 100 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Humana during the second quarter worth $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Humana in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Humana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $519.00 to $253.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Humana from $332.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Humana from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target 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. Twenty 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $315.86.

Humana Trading Down 2.2 %

NYSE:HUM opened at $282.97 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $34.07 billion, a PE ratio of 25.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.52. Humana Inc. has a 52-week low of $213.31 and a 52-week high of $527.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $284.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $332.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $4.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $29.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.66 billion. Humana had a net margin of 1.18% and a return on equity of 13.20%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Humana Inc. will post 15.83 EPS for the current 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Humana’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.