Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) Shareholders to Get $1.56 Quarterly Dividend

Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.56 per share by the health services provider on Thursday, December 17th. This represents a $6.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 3rd.

Cigna Group has raised its dividend by an average of 1.7% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 5 consecutive years. Cigna Group has a dividend payout ratio of 18.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Cigna Group to earn $33.51 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.6%.

Cigna Group Stock Performance

Shares of CI opened at $294.76 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.29. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $282.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $281.33. Cigna Group has a 12 month low of $239.51 and a 12 month high of $316.27.

Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The health services provider reported $7.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.60 by $0.18. Cigna Group had a return on equity of 19.75% and a net margin of 2.27%. The firm had revenue of $71.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.20 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Cigna Group will post 30.49 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cigna Group

In related news, insider Everett Neville sold 617 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.05, for a total transaction of $175,258.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,435,304.65. This represents a 10.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nicole Jones sold 19,436 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.27, for a total value of $5,369,583.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,530,015.12. The trade was a 41.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 22,730 shares of company stock worth $6,293,359. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cigna Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CI. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Cigna Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $24,386,000. Aviance Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Cigna Group by 3.4% during the third quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 20,897 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $5,680,000 after acquiring an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Cigna Group by 2.6% during the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 49,517 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $13,460,000 after acquiring an additional 1,258 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Cigna Group by 8.2% during the third quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,619 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $2,071,000 after acquiring an additional 578 shares during the period. Finally, Unison Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Cigna Group by 0.5% during the third quarter. Unison Advisors LLC now owns 12,776 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $3,473,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.99% of the company’s stock.

About Cigna Group

The Cigna Group (NYSE: CI) is a global health services company that provides insurance coverage, health care benefits and related services. Its operations are primarily organized through Cigna Healthcare, which offers medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health and other benefit programs to employers, government organizations and individuals, primarily in the United States.

The company also operates Evernorth Health Services, a health services platform that includes pharmacy benefit management, specialty pharmacy, care management and health-care delivery capabilities.