Analysts Set Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Price Target at $79.92

Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $79.92.

CNC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Stephens lowered their target price on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th.

Centene Stock Down 0.5 %

CNC opened at $59.96 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Centene has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $80.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.61, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $59.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.79.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Centene will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter worth $1,536,167,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Centene by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $469,053,000 after acquiring an additional 2,319,952 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 1,788.1% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,245,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,126,582 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Centene by 21.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $639,450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,358 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Centene by 91.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,770,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $228,414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,802,265 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently 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.