Centene (NYSE:CNC) Trading Up 4% - What's Next?

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $63.73 and last traded at $63.15. 1,987,178 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 4,583,897 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.73.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CNC shares. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group raised Centene from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Centene from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price target for the company from $53.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.85.

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Centene Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $30.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.00, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.97.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company's revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,536,167,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company's stock worth $639,450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,358 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Centene by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company's stock valued at $469,053,000 after buying an additional 2,319,952 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Centene by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,469,062 shares of the company's stock worth $391,854,000 after buying an additional 1,578,917 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,294,816 shares of the company's stock worth $320,760,000 after acquiring an additional 443,121 shares during the period. 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.