Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Cigna Group from $305.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Evercore started coverage on Cigna Group in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $290.00 price target for the company. Mizuho increased their price objective on Cigna Group from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Cigna Group from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Cigna Group from $370.00 to $346.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $337.10.

Cigna Group Trading Up 3.3%

NYSE:CI opened at $290.11 on Friday. Cigna Group has a 12 month low of $239.51 and a 12 month high of $315.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.00, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $283.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $280.83.

Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The health services provider reported $7.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.60 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $70.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.14 billion. Cigna Group had a net margin of 2.27% and a return on equity of 19.75%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $7.20 earnings per share. Cigna Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 30.450- EPS. Analysts expect that Cigna Group will post 30.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cigna Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a $1.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $6.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Cigna Group’s payout ratio is currently 25.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Nicole S. Jones sold 19,436 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.27, for a total transaction of $5,369,583.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,256 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,530,015.12. This represents a 41.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Everett Neville sold 617 shares of Cigna Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.05, for a total transaction of $175,258.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,435,304.65. This represents a 10.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 22,730 shares of company stock valued at $6,293,359 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cigna Group

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in Cigna Group by 26,190.2% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 106,647,359 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $29,400,544,000 after purchasing an additional 106,241,705 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cigna Group by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 23,438,250 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $6,461,457,000 after buying an additional 840,098 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cigna Group by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,051,370 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $1,658,055,000 after acquiring an additional 48,474 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Cigna Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,628,918,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Cigna Group in the 4th quarter worth about $1,019,790,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.99% of the company’s stock.

About Cigna Group

The Cigna Group (NYSE: CI) is a global health services company that helps individuals, employers, health plans and government organizations access health care and related services. The company operates primarily through two businesses: Cigna Healthcare, which provides medical, behavioral health, dental and other health benefit products and services, and Evernorth Health Services, which offers pharmacy, care delivery and health benefits solutions.

Evernorth includes Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit services provider that manages prescription drug benefits and operates home delivery and specialty pharmacy services.