Centene (NYSE:CNC) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Centene (NYSE:CNC) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on CNC. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $83.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Centene from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $78.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Centene from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.58.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CNC opened at $72.94 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $75.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.97. Centene has a one year low of $63.45 and a one year high of $81.42. The firm has a market cap of $38.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.48.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.02). Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The firm had revenue of $39.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.10 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Centene will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the first quarter valued at about $914,080,000. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Centene by 60.2% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,216,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $409,390,000 after buying an additional 1,959,460 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 22.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,461,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,799,000 after buying an additional 832,318 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Centene by 14.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,113,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $339,042,000 after buying an additional 636,683 shares during the period. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its stake in shares of Centene by 42.3% in the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 1,400,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,838,000 after buying an additional 416,003 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

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.