Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH) Trading Down 3.2% on Analyst Downgrade

Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:MOH)’s share price was down 3.2% during trading on Friday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $437.00 to $430.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Molina Healthcare traded as low as $336.87 and last traded at $341.18. Approximately 84,491 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 397,431 shares. The stock had previously closed at $352.30.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Molina Healthcare from $440.00 to $410.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $406.00 price objective on shares of Molina Healthcare in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Bank of America cut Molina Healthcare from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $439.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, March 28th. StockNews.com cut Molina Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $390.00 price objective on shares of Molina Healthcare in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $396.09.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Molina Healthcare

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Molina Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth about $275,143,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Molina Healthcare by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,831,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,384,215,000 after buying an additional 436,060 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Molina Healthcare by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,430,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $878,086,000 after buying an additional 123,894 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Molina Healthcare by 53.0% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 331,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,745,000 after buying an additional 114,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 112,243 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.50% of the company’s stock.

Molina Healthcare Stock Down 2.8 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The company has a market capitalization of $20.05 billion, a PE ratio of 19.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50-day moving average of $391.53 and a 200 day moving average of $371.87.

Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The company reported $5.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.46 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $9.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.45 billion. Molina Healthcare had a return on equity of 30.99% and a net margin of 2.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.81 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Molina Healthcare, Inc. will post 23.62 earnings per share for the current year.

About Molina Healthcare

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.