Equitable Holdings Inc. Makes New Investment in Cigna Group $CI

Equitable Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 3,469 shares of the health services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $956,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Centaurus Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Cigna Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $544,000. FSA Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Cigna Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $297,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Cigna Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,610,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Cigna Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,503,000. Finally, MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Cigna Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,235,000. 86.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Nicole S. Jones sold 19,436 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.27, for a total transaction of $5,369,583.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,256 shares in the company, valued at $7,530,015.12. The trade was a 41.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Jamie G. Kates sold 899 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.61, for a total transaction of $268,450.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $707,108.48. The trade was a 27.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,012 shares of company stock valued at $6,386,550. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on CI shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Cigna Group from $355.00 to $361.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cigna Group in a report on Monday, June 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Cigna Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $303.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Cigna Group from $371.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Cigna Group in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $339.45.

Cigna Group Stock Performance

Shares of CI stock opened at $278.89 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $283.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $281.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.69 billion, a PE ratio of 11.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.29. Cigna Group has a 52-week low of $239.51 and a 52-week high of $315.47.

Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The health services provider reported $7.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.60 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $70.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.14 billion. Cigna Group had a return on equity of 19.75% and a net margin of 2.27%.The company’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $7.20 EPS. Cigna Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 30.450- EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cigna Group will post 30.51 EPS for the current year.

Cigna Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $1.56 dividend. This represents a $6.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Cigna Group’s payout ratio is currently 25.82%.

Cigna Group Company Profile

Cigna Group (NYSE: CI) is a global health services company that offers a broad portfolio of healthcare products and insurance solutions for individuals, employers, and governments. Its core businesses include medical and behavioral health plans, dental and vision coverage, pharmacy benefit management, and supplemental health products. Cigna serves a mix of commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid customers and provides workplace benefits such as group health plans and disability and life benefits for employers.

In addition to traditional insurance products, Cigna operates health services and care-delivery platforms designed to manage costs and improve outcomes.