Brokerages Set Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:MOH) PT at $355.69

Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:MOH) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $355.69.

Several brokerages have recently commented on MOH. Wells Fargo & Company raised Molina Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $295.00 to $372.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com lowered Molina Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Barclays decreased their price target on Molina Healthcare from $372.00 to $339.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Molina Healthcare from $382.00 to $376.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of Molina Healthcare in a research note on Thursday, February 6th.

Molina Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of MOH stock opened at $308.51 on Tuesday. Molina Healthcare has a 52-week low of $262.32 and a 52-week high of $423.92. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $298.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $310.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.12 billion, a PE ratio of 15.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $5.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.74 by ($0.69). Molina Healthcare had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 28.13%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Molina Healthcare will post 24.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Molina Healthcare

In other news, Director Steven J. Orlando sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.33, for a total transaction of $301,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,375 shares in the company, valued at $5,235,608.75. This represents a 5.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Molina Healthcare

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Molina Healthcare by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,632,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $766,111,000 after purchasing an additional 181,073 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Molina Healthcare by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,614,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $900,787,000 after buying an additional 13,001 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Molina Healthcare by 31.1% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Molina Healthcare by 2.5% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Molina Healthcare by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,327,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $386,229,000 after purchasing an additional 294,180 shares during the last quarter. 98.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.