Centene (NYSE:CNC) Upgraded by Bank of America to “Neutral”

Bank of America upgraded shares of Centene (NYSE:CNC) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Bank of America currently has $72.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $79.00.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on CNC. Mizuho dropped their price target on Centene from $80.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th. Stephens dropped their price target on Centene from $87.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Monday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Centene from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Friday, July 7th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Centene from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $84.22.

Centene Price Performance

NYSE:CNC opened at $65.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.57. Centene has a 52-week low of $60.83 and a 52-week high of $93.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $65.85 and a 200 day moving average of $66.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 28th. The company reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $37.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.56 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 1.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.77 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Centene will post 6.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Centene during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Centene during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $850,000. Alamar Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Alamar Capital Management LLC now owns 47,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,221,000 after acquiring an additional 2,311 shares during the period. ProVise Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 31.1% during the 2nd quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC now owns 5,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225 shares during the period. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 73.2% during the 2nd quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 617,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,623,000 after acquiring an additional 260,900 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.92% of the company’s stock.

About Centene

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. It operates in two segments, Managed Care and Specialty Services. The Managed Care segment offers health plan coverage to individuals through government subsidized programs, including Medicaid, the State children's health insurance program, long-term services and support, foster care, and medicare-medicaid plans, which cover dually eligible individuals, as well as aged, blind, or disabled programs.