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

Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $79.92.

CNC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price target (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Argus cut shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, December 11th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 75.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Trading Down 0.5 %

CNC stock opened at $59.96 on Monday. Centene has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year high of $80.59. The company has a market capitalization of $29.74 billion, a PE ratio of 9.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $59.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11.

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

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.