Humana reports 4Q loss

Humana Inc. (HUM) on Wednesday reported a fourth-quarter loss of $401 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Louisville, Kentucky-based company said it had a loss of $2.68. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to $2.09 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.06 per share.

The health insurer posted revenue of $12.88 billion in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $13.46 billion, which did not meet Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $13.54 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $614 million, or $4.07 per share. Revenue was reported as $54.96 billion.

Humana shares have dropped slightly more than 4 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased slightly more than 2 percent. The stock has risen 24 percent in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on HUM at https://www.zacks.com/ap/HUM

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Keywords: Humana, Earnings Report