Centene (NYSE:CNC) Cut to Hold at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Centene (NYSE:CNC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has $69.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $83.00.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Centene from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a neutral rating and a $83.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Centene from $93.00 to $81.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Stephens reissued an equal weight rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Centene from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $83.93.

Centene Trading Up 8.5 %

NYSE CNC opened at $73.10 on Wednesday. Centene has a one year low of $60.83 and a one year high of $81.42. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $69.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.53, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.50.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.02). Centene had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 14.19%. The business had revenue of $39.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.10 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Centene will post 6.51 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Centene news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the president now directly owns 300,357 shares in the company, valued at $23,313,710.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Centene news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the president now directly owns 300,357 shares in the company, valued at $23,313,710.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $1,957,432. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CNC. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Riverview Trust Co raised its position in Centene by 154.6% in the second quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 527 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in Centene in the second quarter worth about $36,000. 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.