Centene (NYSE:CNC) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $89.00 to $93.00. The stock had previously closed at $70.73, but opened at $75.73. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Centene shares last traded at $73.28, with a volume of 1,120,956 shares traded.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Centene from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Centene from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $101.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective (down previously from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $900,840.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 235,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,668,850.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $900,840.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 235,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,668,850.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $774,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $886,731.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Centene

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Centene by 84,741.9% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 225,379,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,483,403,000 after buying an additional 225,114,221 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,325,441,000. Harris Associates L P raised its holdings in Centene by 172.8% during the 4th quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 10,863,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $806,170,000 after buying an additional 6,881,450 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 8.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,788,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $605,351,000 after purchasing an additional 704,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,619,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $639,878,000 after purchasing an additional 385,839 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Centene Stock Up 2.8 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $38.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $76.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.52.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.02. Centene had a net margin of 1.75% and a return on equity of 14.26%. The company had revenue of $39.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.75 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.