Centene’s (CNC) Overweight Rating Reaffirmed at Cantor Fitzgerald

Centene (NYSE:CNC)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $90.00 price target on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price target indicates a potential upside of 19.47% from the company’s current price.

CNC has been the topic of several other reports. Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $83.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $78.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Centene from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $98.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.58.

Centene Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of CNC traded down $0.30 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $75.33. The stock had a trading volume of 541,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,508,303. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $74.33 and a 200 day moving average of $73.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $40.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.48. Centene has a 52 week low of $63.45 and a 52 week high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.02). Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The business had revenue of $39.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.10 earnings per share. Centene’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Centene will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CNC. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Centene in the 1st quarter valued at about $914,080,000. Harris Associates L P grew its position in shares of Centene by 172.8% during the 4th quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 10,863,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $806,170,000 after purchasing an additional 6,881,450 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 60.2% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,216,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $409,390,000 after buying an additional 1,959,460 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Centene by 22.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,461,517 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,799,000 after acquiring an additional 832,318 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Centene by 14.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,113,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $339,042,000 after acquiring an additional 636,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.