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

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Centene (NYSE:CNC) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $83.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.92.

Centene Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:CNC opened at $63.89 on Monday. Centene has a 1 year low of $55.03 and a 1 year high of $81.42. The business has a fifty day moving average of $60.91 and a 200-day moving average of $67.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market cap of $32.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.09, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.45.

Insider Activity at Centene

In other Centene news, CEO Sarah London acquired 4,117 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $60.80 per share, with a total value of $250,313.60. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 667,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,567,523.20. The trade was a 0.62 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher bought 17,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $58.14 per share, for a total transaction of $1,000,008.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 486,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,305,284.58. This represents a 3.66 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 45,010 shares of company stock worth $2,660,276. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter valued at $167,000. Bonfire Financial acquired a new stake in Centene during the fourth quarter valued at $490,000. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,708,000. Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in shares of Centene by 38.4% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 26,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,577,000 after purchasing an additional 7,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 279,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,949,000 after buying an additional 41,327 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.