Cantor Fitzgerald Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Centene (NYSE:CNC)

Centene (NYSE:CNC)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $41.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price suggests a potential upside of 3.51% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on CNC. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Centene from $25.00 to $32.00 in a report on Monday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Centene from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Centene and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Centene from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Centene has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.25.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $39.61 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $19.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.15. Centene has a fifty-two week low of $25.08 and a fifty-two week high of $66.03.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The company reported ($1.19) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.22) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $49.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.41 billion. Centene had a negative net margin of 3.43% and a positive return on equity of 4.25%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. Centene has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.000-3.000 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Centene will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Centene

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Centene in the 2nd quarter worth $1,435,997,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Centene by 76.6% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,654,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $522,885,000 after purchasing an additional 6,356,152 shares in the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. raised its stake in Centene by 184.0% during the 3rd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 9,046,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,761,000 after purchasing an additional 5,860,630 shares during the period. 8 Knots Management LLC purchased a new position in Centene in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $186,662,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Centene by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,716,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $310,989,000 after buying an additional 2,111,674 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Centene

Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that specializes in providing services to government-sponsored and national health programs. The company primarily acts as a managed care organization, delivering healthcare coverage and administering benefits for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and individual marketplace plans. Centene also contracts with federal and state agencies to manage specialty care programs and community-based services for vulnerable populations.

Centene’s offerings extend beyond traditional insurance to include a range of specialty and support services.