First Manhattan CO. LLC. Cuts Position in The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. trimmed its position in The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,327 shares of the health services provider’s stock after selling 59 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in The Cigna Group were worth $643,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Cigna Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in The Cigna Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in The Cigna Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in The Cigna Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in The Cigna Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 86.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Cigna Group

In other The Cigna Group news, CEO David Cordani sold 26,527 shares of The Cigna Group stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.12, for a total transaction of $8,173,499.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 127,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,367,568.04. The trade was a 17.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Elder Granger sold 2,376 shares of The Cigna Group stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.35, for a total value of $737,391.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,471 shares in the company, valued at $1,697,924.85. The trade was a 30.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 43,751 shares of company stock valued at $13,603,991 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CI shares. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $388.00 price objective (up previously from $384.00) on shares of The Cigna Group in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered The Cigna Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $323.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on The Cigna Group from $350.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho lifted their target price on The Cigna Group from $360.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $360.00 target price (down previously from $415.00) on shares of The Cigna Group in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, The Cigna Group currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $378.22.

The Cigna Group Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE CI opened at $333.79 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $89.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.47. The Cigna Group has a 12-month low of $262.03 and a 12-month high of $370.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $325.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $310.01.

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The health services provider reported $6.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.35 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $65.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.39 billion. The Cigna Group had a return on equity of 18.61% and a net margin of 1.39%. The business’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.47 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The Cigna Group will post 29.77 EPS for the current year.

The Cigna Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 3rd. The Cigna Group’s payout ratio is currently 33.44%.

The Cigna Group 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.