Centene (NYSE:CNC) Stock Price Down 2.7% – Time to Sell?

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) shares dropped 2.7% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $62.08 and last traded at $62.13. Approximately 555,103 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 4,685,616 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.86.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Argus cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Centene from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $53.00 to $64.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price target (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.69.

Centene Stock Down 1.3 %

The company has a market cap of $30.86 billion, a PE ratio of 9.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company’s 50 day moving average is $59.60 and its 200 day moving average is $61.57.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in Centene by 75.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in Centene during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. 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.