Centene (NYSE:CNC) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Robert W. Baird Analyst Says

Centene (NYSE:CNC) had its price objective boosted by investment analysts at Robert W. Baird from $28.00 to $36.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 8.33% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price target (up from $36.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Centene from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Centene from $28.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Centene from $41.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.47.

Centene Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of CNC stock opened at $39.27 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.64, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.07. Centene has a 1 year low of $25.08 and a 1 year high of $66.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by $0.71. The company had revenue of $49.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.50 billion. Centene had a positive return on equity of 7.82% and a negative net margin of 2.85%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Centene will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Polianta Ltd bought a new position in shares of Centene during the second quarter valued at about $1,253,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,033,000. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its stake in Centene by 83.1% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 42,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,566,000 after acquiring an additional 19,181 shares during the period. Focused Investors LLC boosted its holdings in Centene by 19.9% in the second quarter. Focused Investors LLC now owns 1,250,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,850,000 after acquiring an additional 207,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in Centene by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 3,384,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,724,000 after purchasing an additional 199,016 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.