Zacks Research Has Bearish Outlook for Centene Q2 Earnings

Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) - Equities research analysts at Zacks Research lowered their Q2 2025 EPS estimates for shares of Centene in a report released on Wednesday, July 16th. Zacks Research analyst K. Dey now expects that the company will post earnings per share of $0.91 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $2.07. The consensus estimate for Centene's current full-year earnings is $6.86 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Centene's Q3 2025 earnings at $0.56 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at ($0.11) EPS, FY2025 earnings at $4.26 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $2.33 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $1.22 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $0.66 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at ($0.03) EPS, FY2026 earnings at $4.19 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $2.47 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $1.58 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $4.98 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $90.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays decreased their price target 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. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Centene from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Oppenheimer set a $51.00 price objective on Centene and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $52.50.

Centene Stock Down 9.2%

NYSE CNC traded down $2.70 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $26.72. 39,872,355 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,217,258. The company's 50-day moving average is $47.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.11. Centene has a one year low of $26.66 and a one year high of $80.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $13.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.44.

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. Centene had a net margin of 2.04% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The business had revenue of $46.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.26 EPS. Centene's revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter worth about $1,536,167,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Centene by 5.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,091,964 shares of the company's stock valued at $673,393,000 after acquiring an additional 536,508 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,306,796 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Centene by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,469,062 shares of the company's stock valued at $391,854,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578,917 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Centene by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,294,816 shares of the company's stock valued at $320,760,000 after buying an additional 443,121 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.