Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Sells 86,711 Shares of Molina Healthcare, Inc $MOH

Key Points

• Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. has reduced its stake in Molina Healthcare by 16.1%, selling 86,711 shares, and now holds approximately 450,346 shares valued at $148.3 million.
• Institutional investors own 98.50% of Molina Healthcare, with significant changes to shares held, including large increases from firms like Rothschild Investment LLC and Elequin Capital LP.
• Recent analyst ratings have been cautious, with multiple firms lowering their price targets and changing ratings, indicating a general consensus of "Hold" for the stock.

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Molina Healthcare, Inc (NYSE:MOH - Free Report) by 16.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 450,346 shares of the company's stock after selling 86,711 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned about 0.83% of Molina Healthcare worth $148,339,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Molina Healthcare by 46.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,216,903 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Molina Healthcare by 74,593.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 667,015 shares of the company's stock valued at $219,708,000 after purchasing an additional 666,122 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Molina Healthcare by 1,641.3% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 409,807 shares of the company's stock valued at $119,274,000 after purchasing an additional 386,273 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Molina Healthcare by 42.7% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 884,958 shares of the company's stock valued at $288,125,000 after purchasing an additional 264,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of Molina Healthcare in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,099,000. 98.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MOH. Morgan Stanley downgraded Molina Healthcare from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $364.00 to $266.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Molina Healthcare from $400.00 to $330.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Molina Healthcare from $284.00 to $220.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Molina Healthcare from $272.00 to $184.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Molina Healthcare from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, June 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Molina Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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 stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $155.94 per share, with a total value of $1,559,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 74,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,591,176.14. The trade was a 15.54% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ronna Romney sold 700 shares of Molina Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.74, for a total value of $107,618.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 17,131 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 company insiders.

Molina Healthcare Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:MOH traded up $0.72 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $175.37. 1,252,136 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,434,853. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.64 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Molina Healthcare, Inc has a one year low of $151.95 and a one year high of $365.23. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $185.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $268.97.

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