Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $80.69.

CNC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Centene from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $53.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Argus lowered Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in Centene during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in Centene by 75.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of CNC stock opened at $60.70 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $59.70 and a 200-day moving average of $61.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $30.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.73, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. Centene has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Centene will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

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. 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.