Parallel Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI)

Parallel Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,163 shares of the health services provider’s stock after selling 395 shares during the quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in The Cigna Group were worth $874,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CI. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of The Cigna Group by 26.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 570,283 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $197,569,000 after acquiring an additional 119,681 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its holdings in shares of The Cigna Group by 9.2% during the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 1,378 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $480,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Cigna Group by 10.9% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,595 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $553,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of The Cigna Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $8,202,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of The Cigna Group by 2.3% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 362,339 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $125,529,000 after purchasing an additional 7,996 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on CI. Stephens reduced their price objective on The Cigna Group from $410.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on The Cigna Group from $400.00 to $375.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded The Cigna Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $323.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $348.00 price objective (down previously from $394.00) on shares of The Cigna Group in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on The Cigna Group from $370.00 to $341.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $372.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Noelle K. Eder sold 9,944 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.00, for a total transaction of $3,182,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,289,920. This represents a 42.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Nicole S. Jones sold 4,904 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.12, for a total value of $1,511,020.48. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,065,198.52. This represents a 14.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 43,751 shares of company stock valued at $13,603,991 in the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

The Cigna Group Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE CI opened at $320.74 on Thursday. The Cigna Group has a twelve month low of $262.03 and a twelve 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $299.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $315.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.78 billion, a PE ratio of 26.20, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.53.

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The health services provider reported $6.64 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 period last year, the firm earned $6.79 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Cigna Group will post 29.77 earnings per share for the current year.

The Cigna Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. This is a boost from The Cigna Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. The Cigna Group’s payout ratio is presently 49.35%.

About The Cigna Group

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.