Argus Downgrades Centene (NYSE:CNC) to Hold

Centene (NYSE:CNC) was downgraded by analysts at Argus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports.

CNC has been the topic of several other reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group raised shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday. 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. According to MarketBeat, Centene has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.31.

Centene Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE CNC opened at $58.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.00. Centene has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $81.42. The stock has a market cap of $29.76 billion, a PE ratio of 10.23, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.45.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 1.90% and a return on equity of 13.32%. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. Centene’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Centene will post 6.82 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Centene

In other news, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher bought 17,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $58.14 per share, with a total value of $1,000,008.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 486,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,305,284.58. This represents a 3.66 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $58.86 per share, with a total value of $294,300.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,353,780. The trade was a 27.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 40,893 shares of company stock worth $2,409,962 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Park Place Capital Corp boosted its holdings in Centene by 1,190.0% during the third quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 387 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in Centene by 75.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Centene during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Centene during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in Centene by 73.4% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.