Centene's (CNC) Neutral Rating Reiterated at Guggenheim

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "neutral" rating reissued by research analysts at Guggenheim in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Centene from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $53.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.00.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CNC traded down $0.75 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $58.72. 889,278 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,739,959. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $60.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.72. 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 $29.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.41, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. Centene has a 12-month low of $55.03 and a 12-month high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $46.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $43.16 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The business's revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Centene will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Centene during the third quarter worth about $844,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in Centene by 21.8% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 42,117 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,171,000 after purchasing an additional 7,549 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Centene by 32.4% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,152 shares of the company's stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Centene by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 621,664 shares of the company's stock worth $46,799,000 after purchasing an additional 22,233 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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