Centene (NYSE:CNC) Given New $88.00 Price Target at Sanford C. Bernstein

Centene (NYSE:CNC) had its target price cut by Sanford C. Bernstein from $96.00 to $88.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 42.51% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on CNC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Centene from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Centene from $83.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Centene from $93.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Centene from $97.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.00.

Centene Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of CNC traded up $1.13 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $61.75. The company had a trading volume of 4,701,496 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,832,666. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Centene has a 1-year low of $59.77 and a 1-year high of $81.42. The stock has a market cap of $32.95 billion, a PE ratio of 12.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.48.

Institutional Trading of Centene

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Centene during the first quarter valued at $914,080,000. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Centene by 60.2% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,216,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $409,390,000 after purchasing an additional 1,959,460 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Centene by 22.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,461,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,799,000 after purchasing an additional 832,318 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Centene by 14.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,113,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $339,042,000 after purchasing an additional 636,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its stake in Centene by 42.3% during the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 1,400,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,838,000 after purchasing an additional 416,003 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

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.