Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $84.36.

CNC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on Centene from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Centene from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $83.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of Centene stock opened at $78.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $41.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $69.92 and its 200-day moving average is $73.73. Centene has a one year low of $60.83 and a one year high of $81.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $39.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.83 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Centene will post 6.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,325,441,000. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the first quarter valued at approximately $914,080,000. Harris Associates L P boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 172.8% in the fourth quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 10,863,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $806,170,000 after buying an additional 6,881,450 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 60.2% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,216,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $409,390,000 after buying an additional 1,959,460 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 535.9% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,837,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,396,000 after buying an additional 1,548,961 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Company Profile

Centene Corporation operates as a healthcare enterprise that provides programs and services to under-insured and uninsured families, commercial organizations, and military families in the United States. The company operates through Medicaid, Medicare, Commercial, and Other segments. The Medicaid segment offers health plan coverage, including medicaid expansion, aged, blind, disabled, children’s health insurance program, foster care, medicare-medicaid plans, long-term services and support.