Centene's (CNC) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Oppenheimer

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reissued by investment analysts at Oppenheimer in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $110.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer's price target suggests a potential upside of 48.99% from the stock's current price.

CNC has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $85.00 target price (down previously from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $101.00 target price for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $85.25.

Centene Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE CNC traded down $0.17 on Monday, hitting $73.83. 5,021,169 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,122,451. The company has a market cap of $39.49 billion, a PE ratio of 14.70, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.38. Centene has a 12 month low of $60.83 and a 12 month high of $81.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $76.32 and a 200-day moving average of $74.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $40.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.43 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 14.19%. Centene's revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.11 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Centene will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Centene news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $900,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 235,365 shares in the company, valued at $17,668,850.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Centene news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $774,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $886,731.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $900,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 235,365 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,668,850.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. QV Investors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Centene by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 305,277 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,655,000 after acquiring an additional 33,350 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Centene by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,215,997 shares of the company's stock valued at $90,239,000 after acquiring an additional 231,931 shares during the period. Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,349,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Centene by 57.8% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 187,958 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,941,000 after purchasing an additional 68,854 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in Centene by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 286,205 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,239,000 after purchasing an additional 43,118 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.