Investment Analysts’ Weekly Ratings Changes for Centene (CNC)

Centene (NYSE: CNC) recently received a number of ratings updates from brokerages and research firms:

• 6/12/2024 – Centene had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald. They now have a $90.00 price target on the stock.
• 6/11/2024 – Centene was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating.
• 6/3/2024 – Centene was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating.
• 5/30/2024 – Centene is now covered by analysts at Robert W. Baird. They set a “neutral” rating and a $83.00 price target on the stock.
• 5/30/2024 – Centene was upgraded by analysts at Baird R W to a “hold” rating.
• 5/30/2024 – Centene had its “equal weight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Stephens. They now have a $83.00 price target on the stock.
• 5/2/2024 – Centene had its price target raised by analysts at Barclays PLC from $101.00 to $104.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 4/30/2024 – Centene had its price target raised by analysts at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $81.00 to $82.00. They now have a “hold” rating on the stock.
• 4/29/2024 – Centene was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating.
• 4/29/2024 – Centene had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Oppenheimer Holdings Inc.. They now have a $110.00 price target on the stock.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC stock traded down $1.46 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $66.74. The company had a trading volume of 1,565,118 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,252,165. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $73.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.47. Centene Co. has a 52 week low of $60.83 and a 52 week high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.17. Centene had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 14.19%. The business had revenue of $40.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.43 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.11 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Centene news, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total transaction of $67,386.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,957,432. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total value of $620,960.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 300,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,313,710.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total value of $67,386.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,957,432. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter worth $1,325,441,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Centene in the first quarter valued at about $914,080,000. Harris Associates L P raised its stake in 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 last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in Centene by 0.4% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,652,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $678,033,000 after buying an additional 32,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Centene by 7.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,023,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $414,918,000 after buying an additional 408,525 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.