Centene (NYSE:CNC) Price Target Lowered to $97.00 at Barclays

Centene (NYSE:CNC) had its price objective lowered by Barclays from $98.00 to $97.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on CNC. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Centene from a buy rating to a hold rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $83.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. 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 report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Centene from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Centene to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on Centene from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $85.75.

Centene Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Centene stock opened at $72.67 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Centene has a twelve month low of $62.50 and a twelve month high of $81.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.78 billion, a PE ratio of 14.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $72.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.90.

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). The business had revenue of $39.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.83 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 14.45% and a net margin of 1.79%. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.10 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Centene will post 6.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of Centene by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 3,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $765,000 after purchasing an additional 1,204 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Centene by 82.1% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 3,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 1,803 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at $585,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Centene by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,664,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $271,975,000 after buying an additional 117,243 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Centene Company Profile

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.