Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Molina Healthcare, Inc (NYSE:MOH)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on the stock from $284.00 to $220.00. The stock had previously closed at $177.04, but opened at $170.00. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Molina Healthcare shares last traded at $169.75, with a volume of 473,993 shares.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on MOH. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price target (down from $335.00) on shares of Molina Healthcare in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Molina Healthcare from $400.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 11th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Molina Healthcare from $260.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Molina Healthcare from $373.00 to $179.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Molina Healthcare from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $364.00 to $266.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Molina Healthcare has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $225.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Molina Healthcare

In other Molina Healthcare news, COO James Woys acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $155.94 per share, with a total value of $1,559,400.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer directly owned 74,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,591,176.14. The trade was a 15.54% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Ronna Romney sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.74, for a total transaction of $107,618.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 17,131 shares in the company, valued at $2,633,719.94. This trade represents a 3.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in shares of Molina Healthcare by 0.3% in the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 11,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,814,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its stake in Molina Healthcare by 60.7% during the first quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 90 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. JLB & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Molina Healthcare by 0.3% during the first quarter. JLB & Associates Inc. now owns 10,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,500,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. raised its stake in Molina Healthcare by 0.4% during the first quarter. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. now owns 10,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,317,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC raised its stake in Molina Healthcare by 126.3% during the first quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 86 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.50% of the company’s stock.

Molina Healthcare Stock Up 2.2%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $187.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $269.99. The company has a market capitalization of $9.46 billion, a PE ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 0.54.

Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.50 by ($0.02). Molina Healthcare had a net margin of 2.60% and a return on equity of 27.72%. The company had revenue of $11.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.86 earnings per share. Molina Healthcare’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Molina Healthcare, Inc will post 24.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.