Centene (NYSE:CNC) Downgraded by Morgan Stanley to Equal Weight

Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Centene (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $33.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $70.00.

CNC has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $65.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Centene from $65.00 to $45.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $48.00 target price (down from $75.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $64.75.

Centene Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of Centene stock traded down $0.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $31.61. 10,379,503 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,737,751. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.30. Centene has a twelve month low of $31.49 and a twelve month high of $80.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $46.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.16 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.04% and a return on equity of 14.56%. Centene's revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.26 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Centene will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,536,167,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Centene by 42.7% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,049,494 shares of the company's stock valued at $669,820,000 after buying an additional 3,306,796 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the first quarter worth $146,557,000. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 155.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,901,603 shares of the company's stock worth $236,802,000 after buying an additional 2,373,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its position 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 worth $136,033,000 after buying an additional 2,126,582 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.