Guggenheim Begins Coverage on Centene (NYSE:CNC)

Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a "neutral" rating on the stock.

CNC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group raised shares of Centene from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $80.85.

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Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC stock traded down $0.93 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $62.93. The company had a trading volume of 1,258,827 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,688,086. Centene has a 12-month low of $55.03 and a 12-month high of $80.59. The company has a market capitalization of $31.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.08, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $59.49 and a 200-day moving average of $61.65.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Centene will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Centene

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its stake in Centene by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 540,237 shares of the company's stock worth $32,798,000 after acquiring an additional 68,610 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Centene by 34.1% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 20,042 shares of the company's stock worth $1,217,000 after purchasing an additional 5,092 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its position in shares of Centene by 35.7% in the 1st quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 4,924 shares of the company's stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares during the period. Barden Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Centene by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,215 shares of the company's stock worth $742,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Centene by 7.8% in the first quarter. Washington Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,630 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,252,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Centene Company Profile

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.