Centene (NYSE:CNC) Price Target Cut to $72.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Centene (NYSE:CNC) had its target price lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

CNC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Argus downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays raised their target price on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Stephens decreased their target price on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.92.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC opened at $56.87 on Friday. Centene has a 1 year low of $55.03 and a 1 year high of $81.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a market capitalization of $28.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $61.08 and a 200-day moving average of $66.66.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Centene will post 6.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Centene

In related news, Director H James Dallas bought 1,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $59.01 per share, with a total value 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 represents a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Thomas Greco bought 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,153,712.75. The trade was a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CNC. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Centene by 5.0% during 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 during the period. Perpetual Ltd lifted its holdings in Centene by 68.4% during 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 during the period. Polianta Ltd lifted its holdings in Centene by 41.7% during 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 during the period. Vantage Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Centene by 17.1% during 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 during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Centene by 27.3% during 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Company Profile

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.