Analysts Set Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) Price Target at $49.94

Key Points

• Centene Corporation has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from eighteen analysts, with one sell rating, thirteen hold ratings, and four buy ratings.
• The average target price for Centene's stock among analysts is $49.94, reflecting significant downward adjustments from previous estimates.
• Centene reported a loss of ($0.16) EPS for the last quarter, missing expectations, despite a revenue increase of 22.4% year-over-year, totaling $48.74 billion.

Shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the eighteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have given a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $45.31.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America downgraded Centene from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $52.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Centene from $42.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Centene from $51.00 to $43.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday.

Centene Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE:CNC traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $25.80. The company had a trading volume of 19,535,776 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,197,172. The firm has a market cap of $12.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.10. The business's fifty day moving average is $44.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.11. Centene has a fifty-two week low of $25.50 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.39). The firm had revenue of $48.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.71 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 1.15%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Centene will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $27.62 per share, for a total transaction of $248,580.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 32,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $883,840. The trade was a 39.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Centene

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CNC. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 42.7% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,049,494 shares of the company's stock worth $669,820,000 after purchasing an additional 3,306,796 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the 1st quarter worth $146,557,000. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 155.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,901,603 shares of the company's stock worth $236,802,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373,280 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its stake in Centene by 1,788.1% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,245,511 shares of the company's stock valued at $136,033,000 after buying an additional 2,126,582 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Centene by 111.5% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,608,213 shares of the company's stock valued at $219,055,000 after buying an additional 1,902,277 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% 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. 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.