The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $362.14.

CI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised The Cigna Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on The Cigna Group from $334.00 to $348.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $392.00 target price (up from $382.00) on shares of The Cigna Group in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised The Cigna Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $355.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $360.00 target price on shares of The Cigna Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th.

Insider Transactions at The Cigna Group

In other news, CEO David Cordani sold 31,209 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.17, for a total value of $11,084,500.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 348,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $123,618,339.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO David Cordani sold 31,209 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.17, for a total transaction of $11,084,500.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 348,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $123,618,339.18. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Eric P. Palmer sold 1,017 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.26, for a total value of $340,959.42. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 45,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,275,786.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 114,144 shares of company stock valued at $39,296,330. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Cigna Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Cigna Group by 13.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,967,363 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $4,567,783,000 after purchasing an additional 1,939,554 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Cigna Group by 154,255.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,954,841 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $3,961,117,000 after purchasing an additional 11,947,096 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of The Cigna Group by 3.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,833,753 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $3,385,282,000 after purchasing an additional 345,605 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Cigna Group by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 7,727,729 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $2,314,068,000 after purchasing an additional 97,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of The Cigna Group by 4.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,973,106 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $1,422,657,000 after purchasing an additional 225,115 shares during the last quarter. 86.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

The Cigna Group Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE CI opened at $345.86 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $101.12 billion, a PE ratio of 19.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.56. The Cigna Group has a fifty-two week low of $240.50 and a fifty-two week high of $365.71. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $347.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $314.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The health services provider reported $6.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.54 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $51.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.91 billion. The Cigna Group had a return on equity of 13.59% and a net margin of 2.64%. The Cigna Group’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Cigna Group will post 28.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Cigna Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a $1.40 dividend. This is a boost from The Cigna Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The Cigna Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.20%.

About The Cigna Group

The Cigna Group, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance and related products and services in the United States. Its Evernorth Health Services segment provides a range of coordinated and point solution health services, including pharmacy benefits, home delivery pharmacy, specialty pharmacy, distribution, and care delivery and management solutions to health plans, employers, government organizations, and health care providers.