California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 36,805 Shares of The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 791,147 shares of the health services provider’s stock after selling 36,805 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.28% of The Cigna Group worth $218,467,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CI. RWA Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in The Cigna Group by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,127 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Allianz SE purchased a new position in shares of The Cigna Group during the 4th quarter valued at $6,902,000. Allstate Corp bought a new stake in The Cigna Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,293,000. Maridea Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in The Cigna Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $343,000. Finally, DnB Asset Management AS lifted its position in shares of The Cigna Group by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 130,201 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $35,954,000 after acquiring an additional 8,139 shares in the last quarter. 86.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other The Cigna Group news, insider Noelle K. Eder sold 9,944 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.00, for a total value of $3,182,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,289,920. This represents a 42.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Cordani sold 26,527 shares of The Cigna Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.12, for a total value of $8,173,499.24. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 43,751 shares of company stock valued at $13,603,991. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

The Cigna Group Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of CI opened at $324.97 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $304.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $313.47. The company has a market cap of $88.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.53. 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 Cigna Group has a twelve month low of $262.03 and a twelve month high of $370.83.

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The health services provider reported $6.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.84 by ($1.20). The Cigna Group had a return on equity of 18.61% and a net margin of 1.39%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.79 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that The Cigna Group will post 29.77 EPS for the current year.

The Cigna Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $1.51 dividend. This is a positive change from The Cigna Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The Cigna Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CI. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $348.00 target price (down previously from $394.00) on shares of The Cigna Group in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada set a $355.00 price objective on shares of The Cigna Group in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of The Cigna Group from $420.00 to $339.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of The Cigna Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $323.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of The Cigna Group from $403.00 to $379.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $373.25.

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.