Centene (NYSE:CNC) Price Target Raised to $104.00 at Barclays

Centene (NYSE:CNC) had its price target raised by Barclays from $101.00 to $104.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on CNC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Centene from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Centene from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Stephens reissued an equal weight rating and issued a $85.00 target price (down previously from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $85.23.

Centene Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $74.81 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.90. Centene has a 1 year low of $60.83 and a 1 year high of $81.42.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the president now 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $900,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 235,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,668,850.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $774,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $886,731.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CNC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,325,441,000. Harris Associates L P lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,788,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $605,351,000 after buying an additional 704,684 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Centene by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,619,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $639,878,000 after acquiring an additional 385,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Centene by 7.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,023,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $414,918,000 after acquiring an additional 408,525 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.