Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $77.71.

CNC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Centene in a report on Monday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective (down previously from $84.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th.

Centene Price Performance

CNC opened at $55.22 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $59.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.99. Centene has a 12-month low of $54.01 and a 12-month high of $80.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market cap of $27.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.85, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.38. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The firm had revenue of $46.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.26 EPS. Centene’s revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Centene will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter worth $1,536,167,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Centene by 5.1% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,091,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $673,393,000 after buying an additional 536,508 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Centene by 42.7% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,049,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $669,820,000 after buying an additional 3,306,796 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Centene by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,469,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,854,000 after buying an additional 1,578,917 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Centene by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,294,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,760,000 after buying an additional 443,121 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.