Centene (NYSE:CNC) Downgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Centene (NYSE:CNC) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $98.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $83.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $78.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Centene from $92.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.58.

Centene Stock Down 0.8 %

Centene stock traded down $0.59 during trading on Monday, reaching $71.49. The stock had a trading volume of 5,177,808 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,568,367. Centene has a 52-week low of $63.45 and a 52-week high of $81.42. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $75.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.20. 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 stock has a market cap of $38.15 billion, a PE ratio of 14.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.48.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $39.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.83 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 14.45% and a net margin of 1.79%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.10 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Centene will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Centene

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Centene during the first quarter worth $25,000. WR Wealth Planners LLC lifted its stake in Centene by 41.4% in the second quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Chris Bulman Inc bought a new stake in Centene in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Riverview Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Centene by 154.6% during the second quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the second quarter valued at about $36,000. 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.