Cantor Fitzgerald Reaffirms Overweight Rating for Centene (NYSE:CNC)

Cantor Fitzgerald reissued their overweight rating on shares of Centene (NYSE:CNC) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $90.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Baird R W upgraded shares of Centene to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 29th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Centene from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Centene from a buy rating to a hold rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $83.00 to $69.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $98.00 to $97.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $85.58.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNC opened at $75.61 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $74.48 and a 200-day moving average of $73.46. The stock has a market cap of $40.35 billion, a PE ratio of 15.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. Centene has a fifty-two week low of $63.45 and a fifty-two week high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.02). Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The company had revenue of $39.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.10 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Centene will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at about $221,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Centene by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 79,498 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,900,000 after acquiring an additional 4,618 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in Centene by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 947,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,320,000 after purchasing an additional 51,878 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth approximately $495,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 88,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,603,000 after buying an additional 22,766 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.