Brokerages Set Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Price Target at $80.69

Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the sixteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $80.69.

CNC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Centene from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Argus cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of 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 Performance

CNC stock opened at $60.70 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $30.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.23. Centene has a 52 week low of $55.03 and a 52 week high of $80.59.

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

Institutional Trading of Centene

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Centene during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $844,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Centene in the 3rd quarter valued at about $211,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Centene by 21.8% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,171,000 after purchasing an additional 7,549 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 32.4% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Centene by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 621,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,799,000 after buying an additional 22,233 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by 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.