Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $70.05.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CNC shares. UBS Group set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $79.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Centene from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Centene from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $65.00 target price (up from $47.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $64.91 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.07 billion, a PE ratio of -6.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.08. Centene has a 12 month low of $28.24 and a 12 month high of $69.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The business has a 50-day moving average of $65.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.35.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $1.42. Centene had a positive return on equity of 12.12% and a negative net margin of 2.51%.The business had revenue of $53.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.16) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Centene will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Centene news, General Counsel Christopher Koster sold 56,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.90, for a total value of $3,779,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 248,854 shares in the company, valued at $16,648,332.60. This represents a 18.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CNC. Corient Private Wealth LP grew its stake in Centene by 195.1% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 433,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,835,000 after purchasing an additional 286,687 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in Centene in the second quarter valued at $41,512,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in Centene by 5,937.7% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 46,149,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,962,318,000 after acquiring an additional 45,384,854 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the 2nd quarter worth about $312,000. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in shares of Centene by 18.7% during the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 12,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $819,000 after purchasing an additional 1,912 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Company Profile

Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that specializes in providing services to government-sponsored and national health programs. The company primarily acts as a managed care organization, delivering healthcare coverage and administering benefits for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and individual marketplace plans. Centene also contracts with federal and state agencies to manage specialty care programs and community-based services for vulnerable populations.

Centene’s offerings extend beyond traditional insurance to include a range of specialty and support services.