Centene (NYSE:CNC) Lowered to “Underperform” Rating by Bank of America

Centene (NYSE:CNC) was downgraded by equities researchers at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $30.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $52.00.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on CNC. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price objective (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $48.00 price objective (down previously from $75.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Centene from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.25.

Centene Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $30.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $52.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Centene has a one year low of $29.58 and a one year high of $80.59. The company has a market cap of $14.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.47, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.44.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.38. Centene had a net margin of 2.04% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The firm had revenue of $46.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.26 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Centene will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Centene in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Studio Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

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.