Centene (NYSE:CNC) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $64.82, but opened at $60.25. Centene shares last traded at $61.62, with a volume of 1,361,774 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Centene from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.31.

Centene Stock Down 1.8 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap of $30.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.45.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a return on equity of 13.32% and a net margin of 1.90%. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.82 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In related news, CEO Sarah London bought 4,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $60.80 per share, for a total transaction of $250,313.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 667,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,567,523.20. The trade was a 0.62 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Greco acquired 17,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This trade represents a 736.25 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 45,010 shares of company stock valued at $2,660,276. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harris Associates L P raised its stake in Centene by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,980,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,825 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Centene by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,468,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,766,683,000 after purchasing an additional 111,654 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,768,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $434,255,000 after acquiring an additional 194,566 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,126,000 after acquiring an additional 428,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 693.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,346,000 after acquiring an additional 1,490,935 shares in the last quarter. 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.