Barclays Increases Centene (NYSE:CNC) Price Target to $104.00

Centene (NYSE:CNC) had its price objective hoisted by Barclays from $101.00 to $104.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Barclays‘s target price points to a potential upside of 39.02% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on CNC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Centene from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $85.00 target price (down from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.23.

Centene Stock Performance

Centene stock traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $74.81. The stock had a trading volume of 4,706,732 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,598,060. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Centene has a 52-week low of $60.83 and a 52-week high of $81.42. The company has a market capitalization of $39.92 billion, a PE ratio of 14.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $75.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.84.

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

Insider Activity at Centene

In other Centene news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $774,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $886,731.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Centene news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $886,731.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the president now directly owns 235,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,668,850.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NorthRock Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the third quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 266,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,336,000 after buying an additional 3,800 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Centene by 85.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 50,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,493,000 after buying an additional 23,434 shares in the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in shares of Centene by 11.9% during the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 181,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,488,000 after buying an additional 19,300 shares during the period. Finally, Vantage Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 11.2% in the third quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 433,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,859,000 after acquiring an additional 43,548 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by 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.