Centene (NYSE:CNC) Price Target Lowered to $72.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Centene (NYSE:CNC) had its price target dropped by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 26.58% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on CNC. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Argus cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Centene currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

Centene Price Performance

NYSE:CNC traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $56.88. The stock had a trading volume of 1,246,611 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,389,930. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.45. Centene has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year high of $81.42. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Centene will post 6.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Centene

In related news, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 5,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $58.86 per share, for a total transaction of $294,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,353,780. This trade represents a 27.78 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Centene

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CNC. Harris Associates L P lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,420,825 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,536,167,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,468,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,766,683,000 after acquiring an additional 111,654 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Centene by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $639,450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 194,566 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

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.