Centene (NYSE:CNC) Now Covered by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Centene (NYSE:CNC) in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on CNC. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $65.00 target price (down previously from $84.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Centene has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.71.

Centene Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE CNC opened at $55.71 on Monday. Centene has a 1 year low of $54.01 and a 1 year high of $80.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $59.86 and a 200 day moving average of $60.06. The stock has a market cap of $27.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.38. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm had revenue of $46.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.16 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Centene will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CNC. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,272,000. Bonfire Financial purchased a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $490,000. Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in shares of Centene by 38.4% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 26,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,577,000 after buying an additional 7,229 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 55.6% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 45,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,732,000 after buying an additional 16,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diametric Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter worth $610,000. 93.63% of the stock is 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.