Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH) Hits New 1-Year Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Molina Healthcare, Inc (NYSE:MOH) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after Mizuho lowered their price target on the stock from $400.00 to $330.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Molina Healthcare traded as low as $216.56 and last traded at $219.01, with a volume of 367821 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $221.55.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Molina Healthcare from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Molina Healthcare from $351.00 to $347.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Molina Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Baird R W cut shares of Molina Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Molina Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $414.00 target price for the company. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $352.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Joseph M. Zubretsky sold 87,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.06, for a total value of $28,005,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 257,715 shares in the company, valued at $82,484,262.90. This represents a 25.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Richard M. Schapiro sold 669 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.50, for a total transaction of $214,414.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 11,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,603,702. This represents a 5.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Molina Healthcare

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Molina Healthcare by 46.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,838,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,264,214,000 after buying an additional 1,216,903 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Molina Healthcare by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,632,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $766,111,000 after buying an additional 181,073 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Molina Healthcare by 31.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,801,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $524,214,000 after purchasing an additional 427,276 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Molina Healthcare by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,487,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $490,099,000 after purchasing an additional 117,796 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Molina Healthcare by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,436,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,144,000 after purchasing an additional 34,992 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.50% of the company’s stock.

Molina Healthcare Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $11.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $293.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $303.36.

Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $6.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.96 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $11.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.86 billion. Molina Healthcare had a net margin of 2.81% and a return on equity of 28.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.73 EPS. Analysts expect 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.