Humana posts 4Q profit, results miss Wall Street forecasts

Humana Inc. (HUM) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $145 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Louisville, Kentucky-based company said it had net income of 94 cents. Earnings, adjusted to extinguish debt, were $1.09 per share.

The results did not meet Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.16 per share.

The health insurer posted revenue of $12.33 billion in the period, which also fell short of Street forecasts. Analysts expected $12.4 billion, according to Zacks.

Humana expects full-year earnings to be $8.50 to $9 per share, with revenue in the range of $54.5 billion to $55 billion.

Humana shares have increased slightly more than 3 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has stayed nearly flat. The stock has climbed 54 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 http://www.zacks.com/ap/HUM

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Keywords: Humana, Earnings Report