Centene (NYSE:CNC) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.31 EPS

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

Centene Stock Performance

NYSE:CNC opened at $60.82 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $61.28 and its 200-day moving average is $67.06. The stock has a market cap of $30.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.45. Centene has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $81.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher bought 17,200 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were acquired 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 directly owns 486,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,305,284.58. The trade was a 3.66 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director now 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 45,010 shares of company stock worth $2,660,276 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on CNC. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Centene from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Argus cut shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.31.

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.