Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Posted by on Jun 22nd, 2026

Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC – Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nineteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $60.2353.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CNC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective (up from $55.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Centene from $48.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th.

Get Our Latest Report on Centene

Centene Trading Up 0.1%

Centene stock opened at $61.06 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Centene has a 12 month low of $25.08 and a 12 month high of $66.55. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.15. The stock has a market cap of $30.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.09.

Centene (NYSE:CNC – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $1.14. Centene had a negative net margin of 3.25% and a positive return on equity of 5.57%. The business had revenue of $49.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.90 EPS. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Centene will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Addison Advisors LLC increased its stake in Centene by 455.6% in the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 606 shares during the period. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Centene by 118.4% in the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares during the period. Finally, Bayban bought a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

About Centene

(Get Free Report)

Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that specializes in providing services to government-sponsored and national health programs. The company primarily acts as a managed care organization, delivering healthcare coverage and administering benefits for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and individual marketplace plans. Centene also contracts with federal and state agencies to manage specialty care programs and community-based services for vulnerable populations.

Centene’s offerings extend beyond traditional insurance to include a range of specialty and support services.

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Analyst Recommendations for Centene (NYSE:CNC)

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