Centene (NYSE:CNC) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after Bank of America lowered their price target on the stock from $65.00 to $52.00. The stock had previously closed at $56.65, but opened at $37.34. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Centene shares last traded at $35.17, with a volume of 21,400,023 shares changing hands.

CNC has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $48.00 price target (down previously from $75.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen cut Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Barclays lowered their target price on Centene from $65.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on Centene in a research note on Monday, June 9th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Centene currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.87.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Centene in the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Centene Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company’s 50-day moving average is $56.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.22. The company has a market capitalization of $16.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.96, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.44.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.38. Centene had a net margin of 2.04% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The business had revenue of $46.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.16 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.26 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Centene Corporation 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.