Centene (NYSE:CNC) Earns “Overweight” Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald reissued their overweight rating on shares of Centene (NYSE:CNC) in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $82.00 price objective on the stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $88.00 to $83.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Centene from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Centene from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and decreased their target price for the company from $94.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 30th. Stephens decreased their target price on shares of Centene from $87.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, June 20th. They set a neutral rating and a $72.00 target price on the stock. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $84.33.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of CNC opened at $67.81 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $36.72 billion, a PE ratio of 13.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.57. Centene has a one year low of $60.83 and a one year high of $87.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $65.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.10.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 28th. The company reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $37.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.56 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.83% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Centene will post 6.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Arlington Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the first quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Ellevest Inc. raised its stake in shares of Centene by 141.0% during the first quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 600 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. 90.92% 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. It operates in two segments, Managed Care and Specialty Services. The Managed Care segment offers health plan coverage to individuals through government subsidized programs, including Medicaid, the State children's health insurance program, long-term services and support, foster care, and medicare-medicaid plans, which cover dually eligible individuals, as well as aged, blind, or disabled programs.