Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Receives $79.92 Consensus PT from Analysts

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $79.92.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CNC. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in Centene by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 74,998 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,645,000 after purchasing an additional 6,337 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Centene by 3.8% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 73,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,512,000 after buying an additional 2,656 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI purchased a new position in shares of Centene in the third quarter worth $227,000. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Centene by 212.8% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 15,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 10,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Camden National Bank purchased a new stake in Centene in the 3rd quarter worth $230,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC opened at $59.96 on Monday. Centene has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $80.59. The company has a market capitalization of $29.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.94 and a 200 day moving average of $62.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted 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 business had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Centene will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.