Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 10,484 Shares of Cigna Group $CI

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 751,847 shares of the health services provider’s stock after selling 10,484 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Cigna Group were worth $204,375,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Cigna Group by 3.7% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 23,438,250 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $6,461,457,000 after acquiring an additional 840,098 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC bought a new position in Cigna Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,628,918,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Cigna Group by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,182,083 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $848,821,000 after purchasing an additional 256,677 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Cigna Group by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,426,218 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $647,008,000 after purchasing an additional 236,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Cigna Group during the 2nd quarter worth $542,779,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on CI. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cigna Group in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Cigna Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $350.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Cigna Group from $305.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Evercore assumed coverage on Cigna Group in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Cigna Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $336.00 to $307.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $338.24.

Insider Activity at Cigna Group

In other news, insider Everett Neville sold 617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 5,053 shares in the company, valued at $1,435,304.65. This trade represents a 10.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nicole S. Jones sold 19,436 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,256 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,530,015.12. The trade was a 41.63% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 22,730 shares of company stock worth $6,293,359 over the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cigna Group Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE CI opened at $298.13 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Cigna Group has a 12 month low of $239.51 and a 12 month high of $316.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.78 billion, a PE ratio of 12.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.29. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $283.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $281.53.

Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The health services provider reported $7.78 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 company had revenue of $71.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $7.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Cigna Group will post 30.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Cigna Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.56 dividend. This represents a $6.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 3rd. Cigna Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.82%.

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.