Wells Fargo & Company Trims Centene (NYSE:CNC) Target Price to $81.00

Centene (NYSE:CNC) had its price target trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $93.00 to $81.00 in a report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

CNC has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Centene from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Oppenheimer reissued an outperform rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Baird R W raised shares of Centene to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Centene from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an overweight rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Centene has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $83.93.

Centene Price Performance

CNC stock opened at $67.39 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Centene has a one year low of $60.83 and a one year high of $81.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.96 billion, a PE ratio of 13.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $69.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.79.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $40.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.43 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 14.19%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.11 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Centene will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Centene

In other Centene news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total transaction of $620,960.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 300,357 shares in the company, valued at $23,313,710.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Centene news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total transaction of $620,960.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 300,357 shares in the company, valued at $23,313,710.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total transaction of $67,386.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,957,432. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Centene by 0.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,491,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $364,117,000 after purchasing an additional 25,595 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group lifted its position in Centene by 192.8% in the second quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 13,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $902,000 after purchasing an additional 8,962 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its position in Centene by 459.2% in the second quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 1,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its position in Centene by 17.9% in the second quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 8,602 shares of the company’s stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,307 shares during the period. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc bought a new position in shares of Centene during the second quarter valued at $132,000. 93.63% of the stock is owned by 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.