Centene (NYSE:CNC) Price Target Raised to $68.00

Centene (NYSE:CNC) had its price objective boosted by Sanford C. Bernstein from $48.00 to $68.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning,MarketScreener reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

CNC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Centene from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Bank of America raised Centene from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Centene from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.82.

Centene Trading Down 0.8%

CNC stock opened at $54.86 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Centene has a twelve month low of $25.08 and a twelve month high of $64.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.89.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $1.14. Centene had a negative net margin of 3.25% and a positive return on equity of 5.57%. The firm had revenue of $49.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Centene will post 3.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Centene

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,978,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,344,676,000 after buying an additional 190,334 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Centene by 117.0% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 31,798,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,308,518,000 after buying an additional 17,143,904 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Centene by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,271,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $554,338,000 after buying an additional 697,277 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 184.0% during the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 9,046,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,761,000 after buying an additional 5,860,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Centene by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,002,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $370,456,000 after buying an additional 603,585 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Centene Company Profile

Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that specializes in providing services to government-sponsored and national health programs. The company primarily acts as a managed care organization, delivering healthcare coverage and administering benefits for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and individual marketplace plans. Centene also contracts with federal and state agencies to manage specialty care programs and community-based services for vulnerable populations.

Centene’s offerings extend beyond traditional insurance to include a range of specialty and support services.