Centene (NYSE:CNC) Price Target Raised to $71.00

Centene (NYSE:CNC) had its target price lifted by Robert W. Baird from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.31.

Centene Stock Down 3.7 %

Centene stock opened at $58.51 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Centene has a 12-month low of $55.03 and a 12-month high of $81.42. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $61.28 and its 200 day moving average is $67.06. The company has a market capitalization of $29.54 billion, a PE ratio of 10.16, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.45.

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

Insider Activity at Centene

In related news, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher purchased 17,200 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $58.14 per share, for a total transaction of $1,000,008.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 486,847 shares in the company, valued at $28,305,284.58. This represents a 3.66 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,153,712.75. This trade represents a 736.25 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 40,893 shares of company stock worth $2,409,962. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC lifted 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 last quarter. Perpetual Ltd lifted its holdings in Centene by 68.4% during the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,189,000 after purchasing an additional 14,671 shares during the last quarter. Polianta Ltd lifted its holdings in Centene by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 22,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Centene by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,082,000 after purchasing an additional 343,559 shares during the last quarter. 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.