Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-one research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fifteen have issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $40.00.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho raised their price objective on Centene from $28.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays set a $44.00 price objective on shares of Centene and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Centene from $25.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $38.00 price target (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, October 30th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Centene by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 99,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,040,000 after purchasing an additional 3,574 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the first quarter valued at about $316,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 5.5% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 17,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,054,000 after acquiring an additional 901 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Centene by 14.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 59,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,589,000 after purchasing an additional 7,435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Centene by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 233,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,183,000 after purchasing an additional 16,698 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of CNC stock opened at $39.19 on Friday. Centene has a twelve month low of $25.08 and a twelve month high of $66.81. The company has a market capitalization of $19.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.62, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.71. The business had revenue of $49.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.50 billion. Centene had a negative net margin of 2.85% and a positive return on equity of 7.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Centene will post 6.86 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.