Centene (NYSE:CNC) Hits New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $62.10 and last traded at $63.17, with a volume of 2665771 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.30.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Centene from $93.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $83.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Centene from $98.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Centene from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.58.

Centene Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $33.10 billion, a PE ratio of 12.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $74.44 and a 200-day moving average of $72.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.02). Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The company had revenue of $39.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.10 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Centene

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Centene by 1.0% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 41.4% in the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 10.0% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Centene by 5.0% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Centene by 2.4% in the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 7,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $572,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

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.