Centene (NYSE:CNC) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by Argus

Centene (NYSE:CNC) was downgraded by Argus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports.

CNC has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.31.

Centene Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Centene stock opened at $60.82 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $30.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.45. Centene has a 1 year low of $55.03 and a 1 year high of $81.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $61.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.10.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a return on equity of 13.32% and a net margin of 1.90%. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Centene will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sarah London acquired 4,117 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $60.80 per share, with a total value of $250,313.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 667,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,567,523.20. The trade was a 0.62 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher acquired 17,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $58.14 per share, for a total transaction of $1,000,008.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 486,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,305,284.58. This represents a 3.66 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 45,010 shares of company stock valued at $2,660,276 in the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Centene by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 221,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,398,000 after purchasing an additional 10,515 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd boosted its position in shares of Centene by 68.4% during the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,189,000 after acquiring an additional 14,671 shares during the last quarter. Polianta Ltd increased its position in Centene by 41.7% in the fourth quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 22,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Centene by 17.1% during the third quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 683,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,478,000 after purchasing an additional 99,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Centene by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,082,000 after buying an additional 343,559 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.