Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Has $1.15 Million Stock Position in The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lowered its stake in The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) by 2.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,164 shares of the health services provider’s stock after selling 88 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in The Cigna Group were worth $1,149,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in The Cigna Group by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,442 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $432,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in The Cigna Group by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,540 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $2,258,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the period. LVW Advisors LLC bought a new position in The Cigna Group during the fourth quarter worth about $205,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in The Cigna Group by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 133,782 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $40,061,000 after purchasing an additional 7,882 shares during the period. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in The Cigna Group by 52.8% during the fourth quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,083 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $1,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CI shares. Baird R W upgraded The Cigna Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on The Cigna Group in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $388.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on The Cigna Group from $432.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on The Cigna Group from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut The Cigna Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Cigna Group has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $376.20.

The Cigna Group Price Performance

CI traded up $0.38 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $336.17. 603,377 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,576,473. The Cigna Group has a twelve month low of $253.95 and a twelve month high of $365.71. The company has a market cap of $95.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.57, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $335.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $337.05.

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The health services provider reported $6.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.17 by $0.30. The Cigna Group had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 17.24%. The business had revenue of $57.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $56.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that The Cigna Group will post 28.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Cigna Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. The Cigna Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at The Cigna Group

In other The Cigna Group news, Director Elder Granger sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.08, for a total transaction of $338,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,471 shares in the company, valued at $1,849,635.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Brian C. Evanko sold 4,795 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.01, for a total transaction of $1,654,322.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,923 shares in the company, valued at $13,773,834.23. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Elder Granger sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.08, for a total transaction of $338,080.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,849,635.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,988 shares of company stock worth $7,975,726 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

The Cigna Group 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.