Analysts Set Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) PT at $42.20

Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have assigned a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $42.20.

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Centene from $33.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday. Barclays lowered their price target on Centene from $65.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Centene from $51.00 to $43.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th.

Centene Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Centene stock opened at $28.83 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $14.16 billion, a PE ratio of 7.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business’s fifty day moving average is $33.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.18. Centene has a fifty-two week low of $25.08 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.39). The firm had revenue of $48.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.71 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 1.15%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. Centene has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.750-1.750 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Centene will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Centene

In related news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II purchased 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $27.62 per share, for a total transaction of $248,580.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 32,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $883,840. This trade represents a 39.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sarah London purchased 19,230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.50 per share, with a total value of $490,365.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 845,275 shares in the company, valued at $21,554,512.50. This represents a 2.33% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Centene

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Centene by 53.9% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,814,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,467,000 after acquiring an additional 635,153 shares in the last quarter. MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the second quarter valued at about $2,052,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the second quarter valued at about $1,123,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the second quarter valued at about $281,000. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC grew its stake in shares of Centene by 352.6% during the second quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 16,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $909,000 after acquiring an additional 13,047 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.