Centene’s (CNC) Buy Rating Reiterated at Truist Financial

Truist Financial restated their buy rating on shares of Centene (NYSE:CNC) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $45.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $42.00.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on CNC. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Centene from $45.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Monday, July 21st. Bank of America cut Centene from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $30.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Centene in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $33.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Centene from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.53.

Centene Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Centene stock opened at $35.34 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $17.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.58. Centene has a 1-year low of $25.08 and a 1-year high of $66.81. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by $0.71. The business 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 revenue for the quarter was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. Analysts predict that Centene will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other news, CEO Sarah London bought 19,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.50 per share, with a total value of $490,365.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 845,275 shares in the company, valued at $21,554,512.50. This trade represents a 2.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Centene

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CNC. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the third quarter valued at $27,000. WPG Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Centene by 44.5% in the third quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Centene by 11,011.1% in the third quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 991 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.