Humana Beats Street 4Q Forecasts

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Humana Inc. (HUM) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $184 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 $1.29. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were $2.06 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2 per share.

The health insurer posted revenue of $13.19 billion in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $13.03 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $2.45 billion, or $16.81 per share. Revenue was reported as $53.77 billion.

Humana expects full-year earnings in the range of $13.50 to $14 per share.

Humana shares have increased 8.5 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed roughly 1 percent. The stock has climbed 37 percent in the last 12 months.

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