Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH) Lowered to “Underperform” at Bank of America

Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH) was downgraded by equities researchers at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $439.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America‘s target price points to a potential upside of 4.90% from the company’s previous close.

MOH has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays started coverage on Molina Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $437.00 target price for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Molina Healthcare from $374.00 to $406.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Molina Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Molina Healthcare from $420.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Molina Healthcare from $350.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Molina Healthcare presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $395.82.

Molina Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of MOH stock opened at $418.51 on Thursday. Molina Healthcare has a 52-week low of $263.20 and a 52-week high of $423.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 1.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $388.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $365.51.

Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $9.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Molina Healthcare had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 3.20%. Molina Healthcare’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.10 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Molina Healthcare will post 23.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Molina Healthcare news, CFO Mark Lowell Keim sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $386.56, for a total transaction of $5,798,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 36,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,121,423.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Mark Lowell Keim sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $386.56, for a total value of $5,798,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 36,531 shares in the company, valued at $14,121,423.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard M. Schapiro sold 711 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.06, for a total value of $273,066.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 12,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,688,220.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 16,711 shares of company stock worth $6,472,517. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Molina Healthcare

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Molina Healthcare by 1.5% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 258,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,754 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Molina Healthcare by 10.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,190,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,242,000 after acquiring an additional 112,243 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Molina Healthcare by 4,019.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 103,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,282,000 after acquiring an additional 100,680 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS increased its stake in Molina Healthcare by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 42,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,483,000 after acquiring an additional 7,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Molina Healthcare by 0.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 74,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,282,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. 98.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Molina Healthcare Company Profile

Molina Healthcare, Inc provides managed healthcare services to low-income families and individuals under the Medicaid and Medicare programs and through the state insurance marketplaces. It operates in four segments: Medicaid, Medicare, Marketplace, and Other. The company served in across 19 states. The company was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Long Beach, California.