12 Best Fortune 500 Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now

6. The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) 

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 66

Dividend Yield: 2.01%

Market Cap: $79 billion

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) is an American healthcare and insurance company, boasting more than 178 million customer relationships in over 30 countries and jurisdictions worldwide. With Cigna Healthcare and Evernorth Health Services as its two primary segments, the company has adopted a diversified business model and established itself as a leader in commercial insurance markets and pharmacy services, with specialty pharmacy being its particularly strong suit.

Despite the headwinds faced by the American health insurance sector, The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) posted strong results in Q3 2024. The company reported a revenue of $63.7 billion, up almost 30% YoY and beating the analysts’ estimates by over $4.1 billion. The impressive uptick was primarily driven by significant growth in Evernorth Health Services, reflecting large client wins and strong specialty volume growth. Cigna’s total customer relationships rose by 12% compared to December 31, 2023, reaching 183.5 million, while its total pharmacy customers also grew by 22% to 120 million.

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) recently put the rumors of its highly speculated acquisition of Humana to rest and said that it was focused on buying back its shares. The company had already repurchased about $5.7 billion worth of its common stock in the first ten months of 2024, with $715 million in the month of October alone. The health insurance company also stated that it expects additional share repurchases in the fourth quarter, demonstrating its confidence in the strength and sustainable growth of its business. It is worth noting that Cigna has repurchased about $24 billion of its stock in the last four years. The firm also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.4 per share in October and has been growing its dividends for four consecutive years.

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) has recently come under public scrutiny after revelations by the US Federal Trade Commission that the country’s largest pharmacy benefit managers (including Cigna) have significantly marked up the prices of certain medicines, including for HIV, cancer and heart disease, at their affiliated pharmacies. However, a company spokesperson has described these findings as misleading, saying the calculations are based on a subset of medications that represent less than 2% of what its health plans spend on medications annually.