Centene’s (CNC) Overweight Rating Reiterated at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued their overweight rating on shares of Centene (NYSE:CNC) in a research report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $75.00 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of $80.00.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CNC. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Centene from $83.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.92.

Centene Stock Performance

CNC stock opened at $59.71 on Tuesday. Centene has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $81.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $30.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s fifty day moving average is $61.01 and its 200-day moving average is $68.29.

Insider Activity at Centene

In other Centene news, CEO Sarah London bought 4,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $60.80 per share, with a total value of $250,313.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 667,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,567,523.20. This trade represents a 0.62 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have bought 45,010 shares of company stock valued at $2,660,276. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Park Place Capital Corp increased its holdings in Centene by 1,190.0% during the third quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 387 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 41.4% during the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 468 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Chris Bulman Inc bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Crewe Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Centene by 174.3% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the period. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA increased its position in Centene by 75.3% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 773 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. 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.