Brokerages Set Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Price Target at $84.36

Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $84.36.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CNC shares. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $83.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $83.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Centene Price Performance

Centene stock opened at $78.51 on Friday. Centene has a 52 week low of $60.83 and a 52 week high of $81.42. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.90 billion, a PE ratio of 15.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.50.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its earnings results 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). Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The firm had revenue of $39.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.10 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Centene will post 6.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. WR Wealth Planners LLC raised its position in shares of Centene by 41.4% during the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Chris Bulman Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.