Centene (NYSE:CNC) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.31 EPS

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31, RTT News reports. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.90% and a return on equity of 13.32%. Centene's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. Centene updated its FY 2025 guidance to 7.250- EPS.

Centene Stock Up 0.5 %

CNC stock traded up $0.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $58.95. 3,382,215 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,434,116. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a market cap of $29.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.23, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.45. Centene has a 12 month low of $55.03 and a 12 month high of $81.42. The firm's 50-day moving average is $61.25 and its 200-day moving average is $67.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group raised shares of Centene from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Centene from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and cut their price target for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.31.

Insider Activity at Centene

In other news, Director Thomas Greco acquired 17,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. The trade was a 736.25 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher bought 17,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $58.14 per share, for a total transaction of $1,000,008.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 486,847 shares in the company, valued at $28,305,284.58. This trade represents a 3.66 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have bought 40,893 shares of company stock valued at $2,409,962. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.