AM Best Comments on Humana Inc.'s Re-Opened Senior Unsecured Notes
AM Best has commented that the Long-Term Issue Credit Rating of "bbb" (Good) on the $1.25 billion 5.375% senior unsecured notes, due 2031, originally issued on March 13, 2024, by Humana Inc. (Humana) (headquartered in Louisville, KY) (NYSE:HUM) remains unchanged despite the additional notes being added as part of the same series. Humana has announced that it has issued an additional $250 million of senior unsecured notes under that offering, bringing the total to $1.5 billion. The outlook of the Credit Rating (rating) is stable.
Humana expects to use the proceeds from the senior unsecured notes issuance for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of existing debt and short-term borrowings outstanding under its commercial paper program. Humana issued $1.25 billion of senior notes earlier this month and AM Best expects the issuance to have only a modest increase to financial leverage in the immediate term and then be reduced after the repayments. Humana's financial leverage, as measured by AM Best, was just over 45% with the new issuance. Financial leverage has exceeded the organization's long-term target debt-to-capital ratio of 40%, but management expects that through increases in equity and continued deleveraging over the course of the year, it will get closer to this target. Humana's earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) interest coverage remains solid at 5-8 times in recent years.
Humana has sound liquidity measures as the organization generates consistently strong operating cash flows, which totaled $3 billion in 2024. Liquidity is also supported by dividends primarily from subsidiaries, which totaled $1.5 billion for 2024, as well as its lines of credit totaling $4.75 billion, its $4.75 billion commercial paper program and access to short-term borrowings from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati through its subsidiary, Humana Insurance Company. For additional information on Humana, please refer to the press release issued March 5, 2025.
This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best's Credit Ratings, Best's Performance Assessments, Best's Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best's Ratings & Assessments.
AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.
Copyright © 2025 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250331039115/en/
Joseph Zazzera
Director
+1 908 882 2442
[email protected]
Sally Rosen
Senior Director
+1 908 882 2284
[email protected]
Christopher Sharkey
Associate Director, Public Relations
+1 908 882 2310
[email protected]
Al Slavin
Senior Public Relations Specialist
+1 908 882 2318
[email protected]