Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Director Sells $67,386.50 in Stock

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total transaction of $67,386.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,957,432. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of CNC opened at $74.63 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $75.47 and a 200-day moving average of $75.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The company has a market cap of $39.83 billion, a PE ratio of 14.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.41. Centene Co. has a one year low of $60.83 and a one year high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $40.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.43 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 14.19%. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.11 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Centene

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Operose Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Centene in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Centene in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in Centene in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Headinvest LLC acquired a new stake in Centene in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CNC. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Centene from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Centene from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.23.

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.