StockNews.com Upgrades Centene (NYSE:CNC) to “Strong-Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Centene (NYSE:CNC – Get Rating) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Wednesday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Bank of America cut shares of Centene from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Centene from a buy rating to a hold rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $94.00 to $79.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 8th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Centene from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Credit Suisse Group increased their price objective on shares of Centene from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, December 19th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $96.94.

Centene Stock Performance

NYSE:CNC opened at $62.55 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Centene has a fifty-two week low of $61.82 and a fifty-two week high of $98.53. The stock has a market cap of $34.48 billion, a PE ratio of 30.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.75.

Centene (NYSE:CNC – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.01). Centene had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 0.83%. The company had revenue of $35.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Centene will post 6.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Centene announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, December 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II purchased 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $71.88 per share, for a total transaction of $503,160.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 11,912 shares in the company, valued at $856,234.56. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II purchased 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $71.88 per share, for a total transaction of $503,160.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 11,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $856,234.56. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sarah London acquired 30,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $62.60 per share, for a total transaction of $1,878,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 313,953 shares in the company, valued at $19,653,457.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 46,750 shares of company stock valued at $3,091,605. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Centene by 84,741.9% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 225,379,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,483,403,000 after purchasing an additional 225,114,221 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,270,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,433,266,000 after buying an additional 855,690 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Centene during the 4th quarter worth approximately $713,235,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Centene by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,119,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $419,839,000 after acquiring an additional 332,702 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Centene by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,908,889 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,578,000 after acquiring an additional 179,932 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.28% of the company’s stock.

About Centene

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Centene Corp. operates as a healthcare enterprise, which engages in the provision of programs and services to government sponsored healthcare programs. It operates through the following segments: Medicaid, Medicare, Commercial, and Other. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in St. Louis, MO.