Royal Fund Management LLC Has $1.27 Million Stake in The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI)

Royal Fund Management LLC boosted its position in The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,232 shares of the health services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in The Cigna Group were worth $1,270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. increased its position in The Cigna Group by 61.4% in the 4th quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 9,307 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $2,772,000 after acquiring an additional 3,539 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Cigna Group in the 4th quarter valued at $4,377,000. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Cigna Group in the 4th quarter valued at $2,811,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Cigna Group by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 293,438 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $87,870,000 after purchasing an additional 66,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Cigna Group in the 4th quarter valued at $2,244,000. 86.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of The Cigna Group from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $327.00 to $354.00 in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of The Cigna Group from $384.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of The Cigna Group from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $392.00 price objective (up previously from $382.00) on shares of The Cigna Group in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, The Cigna Group currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $366.14.

The Cigna Group Stock Performance

CI traded down $3.00 during trading on Friday, hitting $341.50. 2,413,548 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,380,653. The firm has a market cap of $99.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $350.77 and its 200 day moving average is $319.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The Cigna Group has a one year low of $240.50 and a one year high of $365.71.

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The health services provider reported $6.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.17 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $57.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $56.59 billion. The Cigna Group had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 17.24%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Cigna Group will post 28.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Cigna Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. The Cigna Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Cigna Group news, SVP Hoeltzel Mary T. Agoglia sold 4,867 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.48, for a total transaction of $1,608,446.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,102 shares in the company, valued at $694,668.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Hoeltzel Mary T. Agoglia sold 4,867 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.48, for a total value of $1,608,446.16. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $694,668.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Eric P. Palmer sold 1,017 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.26, for a total transaction of $340,959.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 45,564 shares in the company, valued at $15,275,786.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 114,144 shares of company stock worth $39,296,330 over the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.