Humana Gains as Wall Street Raises Targets Following Q3 Earnings Beat
Humana shares moved higher as several brokerages raised price targets following the company's better-than-expected third-quarter financial results and an upgraded full-year outlook.
Wall Street analysts have raised price targets on Humana Inc. following the insurer's latest financial results. TD Cowen increased its target on the stock from $370.00 to $430.00 while maintaining a hold rating, Benzinga reported. Several other brokerages adjusted their outlooks as well, including Guggenheim, which lifted its target to $521.00 from $471.00 with a buy rating, and Barclays, which raised its target to $587.00 from $582.00 with an overweight rating.
The updates followed Humana's third-quarter earnings report on Friday, November 6th. The company posted a loss of ($0.70) per share, beating consensus expectations of ($1.00) per share. Revenue reached $41.16 billion, up 26.1% compared to the prior-year period and exceeding analyst expectations of $40.87 billion. The company had earned $3.24 per share in the same quarter a year earlier.
Following the results, Humana boosted its adjusted full-year 2026 earnings per share guidance to at least $9.50 from at least $9.00. The company also registered an insurance benefit ratio of 93.7%, which came in favorable compared to earlier guidance. In addition, Humana declared a quarterly dividend of $0.8850 per share, scheduled for payment on Friday, January 29th to shareholders of record as of Thursday, December 24th.
Humana has also taken operational and balance sheet steps, including cash tender offers to repurchase up to $1.5 billion of eight senior notes series. In care delivery, the company teamed up with Evolent and American Oncology Network to roll out an oncology care model aimed at eliminating prior authorizations for participating cancer care.
MarketBeat reports that Humana carries an average rating of Moderate Buy among 32 brokerages, consisting of 21 buy ratings, 10 hold ratings, and one sell rating. However, GuruFocus warned that the stock traded at a 13.2% premium to its GF Value estimate of $387.06 on November 10, 2026, pointing out that its price-to-earnings ratio of 42.6 stood well above its five-year median of 21.5.