Centene (NYSE:CNC) Announces Earnings Results

Centene (NYSE:CNC) released its earnings results on Friday. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.62, RTT News reports. The company had revenue of $39.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.83 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 14.19% and a net margin of 1.76%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.10 EPS.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNC traded up $5.70 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $73.10. 9,637,301 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,466,414. Centene has a 12-month low of $60.83 and a 12-month high of $81.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $39.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.22, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $69.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.79.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other Centene news, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total value of $67,386.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,957,432. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Centene news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total value of $620,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 300,357 shares in the company, valued at $23,313,710.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total value of $67,386.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,957,432. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on CNC. Jefferies Financial Group cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $83.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Centene from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.93.

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.