Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Purchases Shares of 9,989 Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp acquired a new position in shares of Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 9,989 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,573,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mariner LLC grew its stake in shares of Humana by 2.3% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 14,119 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $6,869,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Humana by 27.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 27,943 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $13,595,000 after purchasing an additional 6,034 shares in the last quarter. Silverarc Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Humana during the third quarter worth $4,865,000. Vest Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Humana by 43.3% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 27,993 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $12,815,000 after purchasing an additional 8,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its stake in shares of Humana by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 64,573 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $29,563,000 after purchasing an additional 5,672 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on HUM. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Humana from $415.00 to $370.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Humana from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Humana from a "b" rating to a "c+" rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Humana in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of Humana from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $433.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Jorge S. Mesquita bought 545 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $367.09 per share, for a total transaction of $200,064.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,578 shares in the company, valued at $946,358.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Humana Price Performance

Shares of HUM stock traded down $4.57 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $311.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,837,205 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,004,702. The business has a fifty day moving average of $328.56 and a 200-day moving average of $395.71. The stock has a market cap of $37.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.45. Humana Inc. has a twelve month low of $299.23 and a twelve month high of $541.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Humana (NYSE:HUM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The insurance provider reported $7.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.12 by $1.11. The business had revenue of $29.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.52 billion. Humana had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 19.44%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Humana Inc. will post 16.06 EPS for the current year.

Humana Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a $0.885 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. Humana's dividend payout ratio is presently 17.86%.

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.