Centene (NYSE:CNC) Earns Overweight Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Centene (NYSE:CNC)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $90.00 price target on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 19.47% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on CNC. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on shares of Centene in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $83.00 target price on the stock. Baird R W raised Centene to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Centene from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $78.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research report on Monday, August 5th. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.58.

Centene Price Performance

NYSE CNC traded down $0.30 on Friday, hitting $75.33. 541,782 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,508,303. Centene has a 52 week low of $63.45 and a 52 week high of $81.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $74.33 and a 200-day moving average of $73.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $40.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.48.

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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.83 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The business’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. Analysts expect that Centene will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Centene in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. WR Wealth Planners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 41.4% in the second quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Chris Bulman Inc bought a new position in shares of Centene during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Riverview Trust Co boosted its holdings in Centene by 154.6% during the second quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 527 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in Centene in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. 93.63% of the stock is 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.