Zacks Research Analysts Reduce Earnings Estimates for Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) – Zacks Research lowered their Q4 2023 earnings estimates for Centene in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, November 7th. Zacks Research analyst K. Dey now forecasts that the company will post earnings per share of $0.41 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.86. The consensus estimate for Centene’s current full-year earnings is $6.67 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Centene’s Q2 2024 earnings at $1.85 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $0.95 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $2.22 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $2.27 EPS and Q3 2025 earnings at $1.74 EPS.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The company reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $38.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.20 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.63% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on CNC. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Centene in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Centene from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 26th. TheStreet raised Centene from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, September 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday, September 14th. Finally, Stephens reduced their target price on Centene from $87.00 to $85.00 in a report on Monday, July 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.39.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNC opened at $71.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $69.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.28. Centene has a 1-year low of $60.83 and a 1-year high of $87.84. The company has a market cap of $38.39 billion, a PE ratio of 16.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.49.

Institutional Trading of Centene

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its holdings in Centene by 79,760.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 460,150,893 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,037,178,000 after buying an additional 459,574,702 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 84,741.9% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 225,379,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,483,403,000 after purchasing an additional 225,114,221 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,959,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,146,573,000 after purchasing an additional 4,839,483 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,778,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,603,882,000 after purchasing an additional 423,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,841,828 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,317,412,000 after purchasing an additional 473,747 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.92% of the company’s stock.

About Centene

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.