GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Acquires New Shares in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,008 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $763,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HUM. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in shares of Humana by 106.7% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 10,198,040 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,587,345,000 after buying an additional 5,264,045 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Humana by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,829,210 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,254,899,000 after acquiring an additional 1,751,857 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Humana during the 4th quarter worth $416,202,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Humana by 44.0% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,609,382 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $915,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,103,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its holdings in Humana by 435.8% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,098,702 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $279,236,000 after purchasing an additional 893,637 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HUM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Humana in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $326.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Humana from $257.00 to $256.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target 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. Raymond James raised shares of Humana from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $315.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $283.00 price objective on shares of Humana in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $286.81.

Humana Stock Up 0.9%

HUM stock traded up $2.08 during trading on Thursday, reaching $229.87. 1,282,427 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,777,659. The firm's 50 day moving average is $258.76 and its 200 day moving average is $267.49. Humana Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.45 and a twelve month high of $406.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $27.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.49.

Humana (NYSE:HUM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $11.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.07 by $1.51. Humana had a net margin of 1.02% and a return on equity of 11.70%. The company had revenue of $32.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $7.23 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Humana Inc. will post 16.47 EPS for the current year.

Humana Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.885 per share. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. Humana's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.04%.

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.