Centene (NYSE:CNC) Lowered to "Equal Weight" Rating by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Centene (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $33.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $70.00.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on CNC. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on Centene from $90.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $45.00 price target (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on Centene from $65.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.75.

Centene Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of NYSE:CNC traded down $1.10 during trading on Thursday, reaching $31.42. The stock had a trading volume of 15,513,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,771,348. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $53.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $15.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.68, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.44. Centene has a fifty-two week low of $31.40 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of Centene by 55.6% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 45,103 shares of the company's stock worth $2,732,000 after purchasing an additional 16,108 shares during the last quarter. Diametric Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter worth about $610,000. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Centene by 85.6% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 216,928 shares of the company's stock worth $13,142,000 after purchasing an additional 100,039 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Centene by 32.3% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 6,333 shares of the company's stock worth $383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Centene by 41.4% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 925,150 shares of the company's stock worth $56,046,000 after purchasing an additional 270,899 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

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.