Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Receives $80.92 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.92.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com cut Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $83.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at $1,153,712.75. The trade was a 736.25 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $58.86 per share, for a total transaction of $294,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,353,780. This trade represents a 27.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 45,010 shares of company stock valued at $2,660,276. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Centene

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vantage Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Centene by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 683,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,478,000 after purchasing an additional 99,904 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,468,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,766,683,000 after buying an additional 111,654 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Centene by 31.1% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 118,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,944,000 after buying an additional 28,175 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its position in Centene by 15.4% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,435,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,063,000 after acquiring an additional 191,768 shares during the period. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 273.5% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 44,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,334,000 after acquiring an additional 32,428 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Price Performance

CNC stock opened at $63.44 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.01, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $60.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Centene has a 12-month low of $55.03 and a 12-month high of $81.42.

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.