Federated Hermes Inc. Grows Holdings in The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI)

Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI – Get Rating) by 51.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,294 shares of the health services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,150 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in The Cigna Group were worth $1,746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC increased its stake in The Cigna Group by 7.6% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,279,334 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $3,762,889,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012,086 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in The Cigna Group by 9.5% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,108,166 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $862,423,000 after purchasing an additional 268,793 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in shares of The Cigna Group by 7.6% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 2,132,943 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $564,239,000 after buying an additional 150,412 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Cigna Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,808,135 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $433,248,000 after buying an additional 28,643 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Cigna Group by 28.3% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 743,781 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $196,011,000 after buying an additional 164,128 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on CI. SVB Securities cut their price target on The Cigna Group from $335.00 to $309.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of The Cigna Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on The Cigna Group from $378.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Raymond James dropped their price objective on The Cigna Group from $370.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on The Cigna Group from $350.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $339.00.

Insider Activity at The Cigna Group

In related news, EVP Cynthia Ryan sold 3,009 shares of The Cigna Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.95, for a total transaction of $986,801.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,319 shares in the company, valued at $1,416,416.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO David Cordani sold 20,148 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.06, for a total value of $5,924,720.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 120,496 shares in the company, valued at $35,433,053.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Cynthia Ryan sold 3,009 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.95, for a total value of $986,801.55. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,416,416.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,960 shares of company stock worth $7,147,653. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

The Cigna Group Trading Up 1.4 %

The Cigna Group stock opened at $275.64 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The Cigna Group has a 52 week low of $224.22 and a 52 week high of $340.11. The company has a market capitalization of $81.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $300.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $305.10.

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 3rd. The health services provider reported $4.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.84 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $45.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.79 billion. The Cigna Group had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 3.69%. The company’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.77 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Cigna Group will post 24.65 EPS for the current year.

The Cigna Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 8th will be given a dividend of $1.23 per share. This is a boost from The Cigna Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. This represents a $4.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 7th. The Cigna Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.01%.

The Cigna Group Profile

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The Cigna Group is engaged in the provision of global health services. It operates through the following segments: Evernorth, U.S. Medical, International Markets, and Group Disability and Other. The Evernorth segment includes a broad range of coordinated and point solution health services, including pharmacy solutions, benefits management solutions, care solutions and intelligence solutions.