Centene (NYSE:CNC) Price Target Raised to $38.00

Centene (NYSE:CNC) had its target price hoisted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $30.00 to $38.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on CNC. Barclays set a $44.00 target price on shares of Centene and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Mizuho upped their target price on Centene from $28.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $38.00 price objective (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.53.

Centene Stock Up 0.7%

CNC stock opened at $37.08 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $34.16 and a 200-day moving average of $41.02. Centene has a fifty-two week low of $25.08 and a fifty-two week high of $66.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by $0.71. The firm had revenue of $49.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.50 billion. Centene had a positive return on equity of 7.82% and a negative net margin of 2.85%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Centene will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Centene by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,396,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,169,768,000 after purchasing an additional 869,706 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Centene in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,435,997,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Centene by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,186,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,258,586,000 after acquiring an additional 514,600 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Centene by 2.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,208,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $718,547,000 after acquiring an additional 279,637 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 5.7% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,725,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $636,482,000 after acquiring an additional 633,946 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.