Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

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

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cigna Group from $305.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Cigna Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $303.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Robert W. Baird set a $362.00 price objective on Cigna Group in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Cigna Group in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Cigna Group from $371.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $337.10.

Cigna Group Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of CI stock opened at $280.51 on Friday. Cigna Group has a 1 year low of $239.51 and a 1 year high of $315.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $283.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $280.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $74.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.61, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.31.

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

Cigna Group Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Cigna Group

In related news, insider Nicole S. Jones sold 19,436 shares of Cigna Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.27, for a total transaction of $5,369,583.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,530,015.12. This trade represents a 41.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.05, for a total value of $175,258.85. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,730 shares of company stock valued at $6,293,359. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cigna Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Cigna Group by 26,190.2% in the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 106,241,705 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 840,098 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Cigna Group by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,339,250 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $3,396,132,000 after purchasing an additional 224,122 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox grew its position in shares of Cigna Group by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 11,138,614 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $3,065,681,000 after purchasing an additional 1,833,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cigna Group by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,763,295 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $2,136,699,000 after purchasing an additional 972,302 shares during the last quarter. 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.