Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:MOH) Short Interest Update

Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:MOH) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 888,400 shares, a drop of 24.1% from the October 15th total of 1,170,000 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 622,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MOH. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of Molina Healthcare in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Molina Healthcare from $405.00 to $331.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Molina Healthcare from $354.00 to $353.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Molina Healthcare from $412.00 to $351.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $406.00 target price on shares of Molina Healthcare in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $367.17.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Molina Healthcare

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Molina Healthcare by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 9,633 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,319,000 after purchasing an additional 1,254 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in shares of Molina Healthcare by 23.2% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 2,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $735,000 after buying an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Molina Healthcare by 98.6% in the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 3,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,248,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management boosted its position in Molina Healthcare by 13.5% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 58,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,255,000 after acquiring an additional 6,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in Molina Healthcare by 42.2% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 32,120 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,067,000 after acquiring an additional 9,538 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.50% of the company’s stock.

Molina Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of Molina Healthcare stock traded down $11.66 on Friday, reaching $294.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 712,051 shares, compared to its average volume of 959,482. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market capitalization of $16.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.95, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $328.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $325.54. Molina Healthcare has a 52-week low of $272.69 and a 52-week high of $423.92.

Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $6.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.96 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $10.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.92 billion. Molina Healthcare had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 27.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.05 EPS. Analysts expect that Molina Healthcare will post 23.44 EPS for the current 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.