Centene (NYSE:CNC) Lowered to Buy Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Centene (NYSE:CNC) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Thursday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.31.

Centene Stock Performance

NYSE CNC opened at $58.51 on Thursday. Centene has a 52-week low of $55.03 and a 52-week high of $81.42. The stock has a market cap of $29.54 billion, a PE ratio of 10.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $61.28 and a 200-day moving average of $67.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.32% and a net margin of 1.90%. The business’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Centene will post 6.82 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Centene

In related news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $58.86 per share, for a total transaction of $294,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,353,780. This represents a 27.78 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher purchased 17,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $58.14 per share, with a total value of $1,000,008.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 486,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,305,284.58. This represents a 3.66 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 40,893 shares of company stock valued at $2,409,962 over the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd boosted its position in Centene by 68.4% during the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,189,000 after buying an additional 14,671 shares during the period. Polianta Ltd grew its holdings in Centene by 41.7% during the 4th quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 22,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Centene by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 683,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,478,000 after acquiring an additional 99,904 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,082,000 after purchasing an additional 343,559 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.