Centene (NYSE:CNC) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Centene (NYSE:CNC) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on CNC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Centene from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $65.00 price target (up from $47.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Centene from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating on shares of Centene in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Finally, Argus raised Centene from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.80.

Centene Price Performance

CNC opened at $66.47 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $32.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50 day moving average of $66.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.37. Centene has a 52-week low of $31.63 and a 52-week high of $72.50.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $50.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.12 billion. Centene had a net margin of 0.72% and a return on equity of 12.15%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Centene will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Centene

In other news, General Counsel Christopher Koster sold 56,500 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.90, for a total transaction of $3,779,850.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 248,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,648,332.60. This trade represents a 18.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 71.5% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 41,815 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,598,000 after purchasing an additional 17,429 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the 2nd quarter valued at about $257,279,000. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Centene during the second quarter worth approximately $5,222,000. Paralel Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Centene during the second quarter worth approximately $4,531,000. Finally, Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL bought a new stake in Centene in the second quarter worth approximately $1,659,000. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Company Profile

Centene Corporation is a diversified healthcare enterprise that provides government-sponsored and commercial health insurance programs and related healthcare services. The company’s offerings are primarily focused on Medicaid, Medicare, and health insurance marketplace plans, with an emphasis on serving individuals and families who may have limited access to traditional healthcare coverage.

Centene operates Medicaid health plans through state-based contracts and offers Medicare Advantage, Medicare prescription drug, and Medicare Supplement products through its Wellcare brand.