Centene (NYSE:CNC) Stock Rating Lowered by Argus

Centene (NYSE:CNC) was downgraded by equities researchers at Argus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Marketbeat reports.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Stephens lowered their price target on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.31.

Centene Stock Performance

Centene stock opened at $58.95 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.76 billion, a PE ratio of 10.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.45. Centene has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 1.90% and a return on equity of 13.32%. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. Centene’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Centene will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Centene

In other news, Director H James Dallas acquired 1,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $59.01 per share, for a total transaction of $99,903.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99,903.93. This trade represents a ? increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Greco acquired 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 40,893 shares of company stock valued at $2,409,962 over the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC grew its position in Centene by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 221,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,398,000 after acquiring an additional 10,515 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd grew its position in Centene by 68.4% in the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,189,000 after acquiring an additional 14,671 shares in the last quarter. Polianta Ltd grew its position in Centene by 41.7% in the fourth quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 22,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Centene by 17.1% in the third quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 683,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,478,000 after acquiring an additional 99,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its position in Centene by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,082,000 after acquiring an additional 343,559 shares in the last quarter. 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.