Cantor Fitzgerald Lowers Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH) Price Target to $180.00

Key Points

• Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald have lowered their price target on Molina Healthcare from $210.00 to $180.00, maintaining a "neutral" rating on the stock, suggesting a potential upside of 9.02% from its previous close.
• Mizuho and Barclays also cut their target prices for Molina Healthcare, with Barclays setting a new target of $144.00, reflecting a broader trend of downgrades among analysts.
• The company recently posted quarterly earnings, reporting an EPS of $1.84, which fell short of analyst expectations of $3.97, although revenue grew by 11.0% year-over-year to $11.48 billion.

Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH - Get Free Report) had its target price cut by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald from $210.00 to $180.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a "neutral" rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald's target price indicates a potential upside of 9.02% from the company's previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Molina Healthcare from $400.00 to $330.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Molina Healthcare from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, June 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Molina Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $144.00 target price (down from $185.00) on shares of Molina Healthcare in a research report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial set a $210.00 price target on Molina Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Molina Healthcare presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $206.14.

Molina Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MOH traded up $4.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $165.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 464,107 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,067,458. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. Molina Healthcare has a 52 week low of $151.95 and a 52 week high of $359.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $184.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $240.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.95 billion, a PE ratio of 10.20 and a beta of 0.55.

Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.97 by ($2.13). Molina Healthcare had a return on equity of 22.60% and a net margin of 1.98%.The business had revenue of $11.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $6.01 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Molina Healthcare has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.000-14.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Molina Healthcare will post 24.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Molina Healthcare

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

Institutional Trading of Molina Healthcare

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Molina Healthcare by 46.4% during the first 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 during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Molina Healthcare in the second quarter worth $212,113,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Molina Healthcare by 25.9% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,601,574 shares of the company's stock worth $477,109,000 after purchasing an additional 329,759 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in Molina Healthcare in the 3rd quarter worth about $52,813,000. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new position in Molina Healthcare in the 2nd quarter worth about $79,665,000. 98.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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