Cigna Corporation (NYSE:CI)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by analysts at Jefferies Group LLC in a report issued on Friday. They currently have a $190.00 price objective on the health services provider’s stock. Jefferies Group LLC’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 7.92% from the stock’s previous close.
The analysts wrote, “CI reported Q2:17 adjusted EPS of $2.91 (GAAP $3.15), compared to OPCO’s estimate of $2.46 and Street consensus of $2.45. Adjusted results exclude $0.13 of realized investment gains and $0.18 from merger-related tax benefits, offset by $0.07 of amortization expense. The beat was driven by the Healthcare segment, with the Commercial MCR of 78.7% outperforming OPCO/Street estimates by 200/160 bps. Due to the beat, the company raised FY2017 EPS guidance to $9.75-$10.05 vs. $9.35-$9.85, with all three segment outlooks growing by $15-$40M.””
A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on CI. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Cigna Corporation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 25th. Credit Suisse Group started coverage on shares of Cigna Corporation in a research note on Monday, June 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $185.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Cigna Corporation from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. increased their price objective on shares of Cigna Corporation from $174.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Cigna Corporation from $172.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Cigna Corporation currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $177.00.
Shares of Cigna Corporation (NYSE:CI) traded down 1.74% during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $172.99. The stock had a trading volume of 1,072,191 shares. Cigna Corporation has a 52-week low of $115.03 and a 52-week high of $178.50. The company’s 50 day moving average is $170.76 and its 200-day moving average is $157.68. The stock has a market cap of $44.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.10 and a beta of 0.46.
Cigna Corporation (NYSE:CI) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 4th. The health services provider reported $2.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.43. The business had revenue of $10.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 billion. Cigna Corporation had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.98 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cigna Corporation will post $9.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
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In other news, CEO David Cordani sold 153,168 shares of Cigna Corporation stock in a transaction on Monday, June 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total transaction of $26,069,193.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 421,162 shares in the company, valued at $71,681,772.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nicole S. Jones sold 20,312 shares of Cigna Corporation stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.04, for a total transaction of $3,250,732.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,159,709.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 219,558 shares of company stock valued at $37,135,665. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BB&T Securities LLC increased its stake in Cigna Corporation by 3.7% in the second quarter. BB&T Securities LLC now owns 28,002 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $4,686,000 after buying an additional 996 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in Cigna Corporation by 84.3% in the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,667 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 3,050 shares during the last quarter. Pegasus Partners Ltd. bought a new stake in Cigna Corporation during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,042,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Cigna Corporation by 20.9% in the second quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 95,962 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $16,063,000 after buying an additional 16,573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Cigna Corporation by 6.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,414,896 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $236,835,000 after buying an additional 90,299 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.95% of the company’s stock.
Cigna Corporation Company Profile
Cigna Corporation (Cigna), together with its subsidiaries, is a health services company. The Company offers medical, dental, disability, life and accident insurance and related products and services. The Company’s segments include Global Health Care, Global Supplemental Benefits, Group Disability and Life, and Other Operations and Corporate.
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