Centene (NYSE:CNC) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.62 EPS

Centene (NYSE:CNC) posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.62, RTT News reports. Centene had a return on equity of 14.19% and a net margin of 1.76%. The firm had revenue of $39.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.10 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of Centene stock traded up $5.70 during trading on Friday, reaching $73.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,637,301 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,466,414. Centene has a one year low of $60.83 and a one year high of $81.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $69.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.50.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen cut their target price on Centene from $91.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Centene from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $93.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Baird R W upgraded shares of Centene to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total value of $67,386.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,957,432. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total value of $67,386.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,504 shares in the company, valued at $1,957,432. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total value of $620,960.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 300,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,313,710.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% 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.