Ashford Capital Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 4,280 Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

Ashford Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,280 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,356,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Humana by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,357,420 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,701,582,000 after acquiring an additional 53,272 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Humana by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,388,859 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,073,387,000 after buying an additional 643,291 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Humana by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,506,250 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $793,830,000 after acquiring an additional 187,903 shares during the last quarter. Davis Selected Advisers increased its position in shares of Humana by 16.1% in the second quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 2,311,362 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $863,640,000 after acquiring an additional 321,233 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Humana by 118.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,425,302 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $532,564,000 after purchasing an additional 774,085 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.38% of the company's stock.

Humana Stock Performance

NYSE HUM traded down $0.42 on Tuesday, reaching $285.82. 1,011,218 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,843,990. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.42 billion, a PE ratio of 25.32, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $272.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $326.37. Humana Inc. has a one year low of $213.31 and a one year high of $488.89.

Humana (NYSE:HUM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $4.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.68. Humana had a net margin of 1.18% and a return on equity of 13.20%. The firm had revenue of $29.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $28.66 billion. Analysts expect that Humana Inc. will post 16.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Humana Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.885 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Humana's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HUM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Humana from $400.00 to $260.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Humana from $387.00 to $290.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Humana from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $519.00 to $253.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Humana from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $308.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Humana from $380.00 to $250.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $315.86.

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.