The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.40

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of 1.40 per share by the health services provider on Thursday, June 20th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%.

The Cigna Group has increased its dividend by an average of 397.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 4 consecutive years. The Cigna Group has a payout ratio of 17.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect The Cigna Group to earn $31.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.5%.

The Cigna Group Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of CI stock opened at $352.27 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The Cigna Group has a fifty-two week low of $240.50 and a fifty-two week high of $365.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $349.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $317.09.

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The health services provider reported $6.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.54 by $0.25. The Cigna Group had a return on equity of 13.59% and a net margin of 2.64%. The business had revenue of $51.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.91 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that The Cigna Group will post 28.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of The Cigna Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $355.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded The Cigna Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $330.00 to $372.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of The Cigna Group in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $393.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $384.00 target price on shares of The Cigna Group in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com raised The Cigna Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Cigna Group currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $362.14.

Insider Transactions at The Cigna Group

In other news, SVP Hoeltzel Mary T. Agoglia sold 4,867 shares of The Cigna Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.48, for a total transaction of $1,608,446.16. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,102 shares in the company, valued at $694,668.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Hoeltzel Mary T. Agoglia sold 4,867 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.48, for a total transaction of $1,608,446.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $694,668.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Eric P. Palmer sold 1,017 shares of The Cigna Group stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.26, for a total transaction of $340,959.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now 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. Insiders sold 114,144 shares of company stock valued at $39,296,330 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

The Cigna Group Company Profile

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.