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

Centene (NYSE:CNC) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Centene in a report on Friday, June 21st. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Centene in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $83.00 price target for the company. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $83.00 price target on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $84.93.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $66.30 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Centene has a 12 month low of $60.83 and a 12 month high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.17. Centene had a return on equity of 14.19% and a net margin of 1.76%. The business had revenue of $40.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.11 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Centene will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Centene news, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total value of $67,386.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,957,432. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total value of $620,960.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 300,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,313,710.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total transaction of $67,386.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,957,432. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CNC. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Centene by 23.2% during the first quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in Centene by 128.3% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 580,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,241,000 after acquiring an additional 326,468 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its stake in Centene by 0.4% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,652,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $678,033,000 after acquiring an additional 32,427 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its stake in Centene by 24.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 20,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,632,000 after acquiring an additional 4,122 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Centene by 526.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 56,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,413,000 after acquiring an additional 47,257 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.