Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. Invests $247,000 in The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI)

Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. bought a new position in The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 824 shares of the health services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000. The Cigna Group makes up about 0.1% of Grunden Financial Advisory Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in The Cigna Group by 13.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,967,363 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $4,567,783,000 after purchasing an additional 1,939,554 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in The Cigna Group by 154,255.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,954,841 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $3,961,117,000 after purchasing an additional 11,947,096 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in The Cigna Group by 3.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,833,753 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $3,385,282,000 after purchasing an additional 345,605 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in The Cigna Group by 4.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,973,106 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $1,422,657,000 after purchasing an additional 225,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in The Cigna Group by 5.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,244,157 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $928,056,000 after purchasing an additional 181,385 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.99% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Cigna Group news, CEO David Cordani sold 38,065 shares of The Cigna Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.22, for a total transaction of $12,760,149.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 329,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,394,985.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Eric P. Palmer sold 6,083 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $2,068,220.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 44,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,180,660. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Cordani sold 38,065 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.22, for a total value of $12,760,149.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 329,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,394,985.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 114,144 shares of company stock valued at $39,296,330 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CI. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on The Cigna Group from $334.00 to $348.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised The Cigna Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $330.00 to $372.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised The Cigna Group from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $327.00 to $354.00 in a report on Monday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised The Cigna Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $355.00 to $370.00 in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised The Cigna Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, The Cigna Group currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $362.14.

The Cigna Group Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of CI traded up $2.70 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $348.78. 1,615,865 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,606,200. The Cigna Group has a 52-week low of $240.50 and a 52-week high of $365.71. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $347.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $314.79. The firm has a market cap of $101.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67.

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The health services provider reported $6.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.54 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $51.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.91 billion. The Cigna Group had a return on equity of 13.59% and a net margin of 2.64%. The Cigna Group’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.96 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Cigna Group will post 28.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Cigna Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. This is an increase from The Cigna Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. The Cigna Group’s payout ratio is 32.20%.

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.