Centene (NYSE:CNC) Given New $104.00 Price Target at Barclays

Centene (NYSE:CNC) had its price objective raised by Barclays from $101.00 to $104.00 in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an overweight rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Stephens reiterated an equal weight rating and issued a $85.00 target price (down previously from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Centene from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Centene has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $85.23.

Centene Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Centene stock opened at $74.81 on Thursday. Centene has a 12-month low of $60.83 and a 12-month high of $81.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.87, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $75.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.90.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $40.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.43 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 14.19%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.11 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Centene will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,325,441,000. Harris Associates L P grew its holdings in Centene by 172.8% during the 4th quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 10,863,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $806,170,000 after acquiring an additional 6,881,450 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,788,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $605,351,000 after purchasing an additional 704,684 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Centene by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,619,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $639,878,000 after purchasing an additional 385,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Centene by 7.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,023,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $414,918,000 after purchasing an additional 408,525 shares during the period. 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.