Centene (NYSE:CNC) Given New $73.00 Price Target at Stephens

Centene (NYSE:CNC) had its price objective lowered by investment analysts at Stephens from $75.00 to $73.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Stephens’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 22.09% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CNC. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group raised Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.31.

Centene Trading Up 3.1 %

CNC stock traded up $1.79 on Friday, reaching $59.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,092,044 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,073,243. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $30.19 billion, a PE ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.46. Centene has a 12-month low of $55.03 and a 12-month high of $81.42.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sarah London bought 4,117 shares of Centene stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $60.80 per share, with a total value of $250,313.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 667,229 shares in the company, valued at $40,567,523.20. The trade was a 0.62 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher bought 17,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $58.14 per share, for a total transaction of $1,000,008.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 486,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,305,284.58. This represents a 3.66 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Centene

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Centene by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,171,000 after purchasing an additional 7,549 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Centene during the third quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Centene by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 60,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,528,000 after purchasing an additional 9,287 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Centene in the 3rd quarter valued at about $844,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in Centene by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 9,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $695,000 after buying an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.