StockNews.com Upgrades Centene (NYSE:CNC) to Strong-Buy

Centene (NYSE:CNC – Get Rating) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. TheStreet lowered Centene from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $94.00 to $79.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 8th. Bank of America downgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 13th. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Centene from $97.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.94.

Centene Stock Performance

NYSE:CNC opened at $63.34 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $72.89 and its 200 day moving average is $79.26. Centene has a fifty-two week low of $62.88 and a fifty-two week high of $98.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.92 billion, a PE ratio of 31.05, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Centene (NYSE:CNC – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.01). Centene had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 0.83%. The business had revenue of $35.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Centene will post 6.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Centene announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, December 16th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher acquired 3,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $71.89 per share, for a total transaction of $215,670.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 310,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,354,554.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher acquired 3,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $71.89 per share, for a total transaction of $215,670.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 310,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,354,554.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO James E. Murray purchased 6,750 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $73.30 per share, with a total value of $494,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 136,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,984,926. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 16,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,213,605. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors boosted its position in shares of Centene by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 2,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Centene by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC now owns 27,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,220,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Centene by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 9,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $728,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Centene by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 22,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,851,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Centene by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. 93.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Centene

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Centene Corp. operates as a healthcare enterprise, which engages in the provision of programs and services to government sponsored healthcare programs. It operates through the following segments: Managed Care and Specialty Services. The Medicaid Managed Care segment provides health plan coverage to individuals through government subsidized programs through Medicaid.