Analysts Set Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) PT at $80.69

Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $80.69.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CNC. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Centene from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $64.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Guggenheim began coverage on Centene in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, Argus cut shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th.

Centene Trading Up 3.7 %

CNC opened at $60.18 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $59.86 and a 200 day moving average of $61.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Centene has a 12 month low of $55.03 and a 12 month high of $80.59. The firm has a market cap of $29.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Centene will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CNC. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter worth $1,536,167,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Centene by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $639,450,000 after buying an additional 1,884,358 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Centene by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $469,053,000 after acquiring an additional 2,319,952 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Centene by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,469,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,854,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578,917 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Centene by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,294,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,760,000 after acquiring an additional 443,121 shares in 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.