Centene (NYSE:CNC) Updates FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Centene (NYSE:CNC) issued an update on its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of 6.700- for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 6.780. The company issued revenue guidance of -.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNC opened at $78.35 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.96, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.98. Centene has a 12 month low of $60.83 and a 12 month high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $39.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.16 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.75% and a return on equity of 14.26%. Centene’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Centene will post 6.75 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Centene from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Stephens reaffirmed an equal weight rating and set a $85.00 price objective (down from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Centene from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Centene from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on Centene in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an overweight rating and a $101.00 target price for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $85.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total value of $774,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $886,731.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $774,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $886,731.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $900,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 235,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,668,850.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 24.1% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 166 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.