Cigna Group (CI) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.56 on December 17th

Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.56 per share by the health services provider on Thursday, December 17th. This represents a $6.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 3rd.

Cigna Group has increased its dividend by an average of 1.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 5 consecutive years. Cigna Group has a payout ratio of 18.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Cigna Group to earn $33.51 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.6%.

Cigna Group Price Performance

Shares of Cigna Group stock opened at $297.96 on Friday. 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 $78.73 billion, a PE ratio of 12.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $283.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $281.42. Cigna Group has a fifty-two week low of $239.51 and a fifty-two week high of $316.27.

Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The health services provider reported $7.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.60 by $0.18. Cigna Group had a return on equity of 19.75% and a net margin of 2.27%. The business had revenue of $71.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $7.20 earnings per share. Cigna Group’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Cigna Group will post 30.49 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on CI. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cigna Group in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on Cigna Group from $304.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Raymond James Financial lowered Cigna Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $350.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Cigna Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 26th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $338.24.

About Cigna Group

The Cigna Group (NYSE: CI) is a global health services company that provides insurance coverage, health care benefits and related services. Its operations are primarily organized through Cigna Healthcare, which offers medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health and other benefit programs to employers, government organizations and individuals, primarily in the United States.

The company also operates Evernorth Health Services, a health services platform that includes pharmacy benefit management, specialty pharmacy, care management and health-care delivery capabilities.