Centene (NYSE:CNC) Trading Down 5.7% – What’s Next?

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) shares were down 5.7% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $57.71 and last traded at $57.85. Approximately 1,127,018 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 4,462,448 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.33.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CNC. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded 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 report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 target price (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

Centene Stock Down 7.5 %

The business has a 50-day moving average of $61.09 and a 200-day moving average of $65.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Centene news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $58.86 per share, for a total transaction of $294,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 23,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,353,780. This trade represents a 27.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. The trade was a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954 in the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in Centene by 75.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in Centene in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.