Short Interest in Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:MOH) Drops By 24.1%

Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:MOH) saw a large drop in short interest in 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. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 622,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on MOH shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Molina Healthcare from $360.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Molina Healthcare from $412.00 to $351.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Molina Healthcare from $359.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Molina Healthcare from $405.00 to $331.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Molina Healthcare from $354.00 to $353.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Molina Healthcare presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $367.17.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Molina Healthcare

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Molina Healthcare in the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in Molina Healthcare by 2,500.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 104 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Molina Healthcare in the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Molina Healthcare during the second quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Molina Healthcare during the third quarter worth $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.50% of the company’s stock.

Molina Healthcare Stock Performance

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

Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $6.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.96 by $0.05. Molina Healthcare had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 27.88%. The firm had revenue of $10.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.05 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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.