Centene (NYSE:CNC) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Strong-Buy Rating

by · The Markets Daily

Centene (NYSE:CNC – Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Friday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on CNC. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Argus lowered shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group raised Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays raised their price target on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Centene from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $64.00 in a report on Tuesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.85.

View Our Latest Analysis on Centene

Centene Stock Performance

NYSE CNC traded up $1.43 during trading on Friday, reaching $63.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,887,943 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,694,412. Centene has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $80.59. The firm has a market cap of $31.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $59.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Centene (NYSE:CNC – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Centene will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in shares of Centene by 69.4% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 35,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,679,000 after purchasing an additional 14,581 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of Centene by 6.9% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 30,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,267,000 after acquiring an additional 1,946 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 9.3% during the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 13,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,017,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its position in Centene by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 9,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $695,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Centene in the 3rd quarter valued at about $844,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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