Centene (NYSE:CNC) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $36.02, but opened at $33.42. Centene shares last traded at $33.66, with a volume of 2,704,783 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $33.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Centene from $68.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 target price (down from $73.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Mizuho increased their target price on Centene from $28.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Centene from $51.00 to $43.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.50.

Centene Trading Down 0.9%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business’s fifty day moving average is $33.01 and its 200-day moving average is $42.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.73 billion, a PE ratio of 8.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.48.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.39). Centene had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 1.15%.The company had revenue of $48.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Centene

In other Centene news, CEO Sarah London acquired 19,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.50 per share, for a total transaction of $490,365.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 845,275 shares in the company, valued at $21,554,512.50. This represents a 2.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $27.62 per share, with a total value of $248,580.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 32,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $883,840. This trade represents a 39.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Norges Bank bought a new position in Centene during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,435,997,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 3,306,796 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the first quarter worth $146,557,000. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 155.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,901,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,802,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373,280 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the second quarter worth $65,105,000. 93.63% of the stock is currently 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.