Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) Receives $39.07 Average PT from Analysts

Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eighteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $39.0667.

A number of research firms have commented on CNC. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Centene from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $41.00 price target on shares of Centene and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Bank of America lowered shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Centene from $28.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Centene from $51.00 to $43.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th.

Insider Transactions at Centene

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

Institutional Trading of Centene

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Centene during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 203.1% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 248.2% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 824 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 265.8% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the first quarter valued at about $73,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Trading Down 5.5%

NYSE CNC opened at $35.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $17.56 billion, a PE ratio of 8.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.48. Centene has a one year low of $25.08 and a one year high of $73.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $31.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.39.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.39). The business had revenue of $48.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.71 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.15% and a return on equity of 9.57%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. Centene has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.750-1.750 EPS. Analysts expect that Centene will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

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.