Centene (NYSE:CNC) Given New $72.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Centene (NYSE:CNC) had its price objective lowered by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 26.61% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also commented on CNC. Stephens cut their target price on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Argus downgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

Centene Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $56.87 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $61.08 and a 200-day moving average of $66.54. The firm has a market cap of $28.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.45. Centene has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $81.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Centene will post 6.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other Centene news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II purchased 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $58.86 per share, for a total transaction of $294,300.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,353,780. This trade represents a 27.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director H James Dallas purchased 1,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $59.01 per share, for a total transaction of $99,903.93. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,693 shares in the company, valued at $99,903.93. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in Centene in the 4th quarter valued at $70,963,000. Voleon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Centene in the 4th quarter valued at $3,656,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Centene in the 4th quarter valued at $6,173,000. 8 Knots Management LLC boosted its holdings in Centene by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC now owns 2,000,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,176,000 after purchasing an additional 313,447 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Centene by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $469,053,000 after purchasing an additional 2,319,952 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Centene

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.