Stock Markets
Health Net awarded Medi-Cal dental contract in California
ST. LOUIS – Centene Corporation (NYSE: NYSE:), a prominent healthcare enterprise, announced today that its subsidiary, Health Net Community Solutions, has been selected by the California Department of Health Care Services to provide managed dental health care services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries in Los Angeles and Sacramento counties starting July 1, 2025. The contract spans 54 months and marks the continuation of Health Net’s role as a provider of both medical and dental coverage in these regions.
Health Net, currently the sole Medi-Cal plan in the aforementioned counties that offers integrated medical and dental care, manages a network of over 1,000 dental providers. The company serves nearly 385,000 dental members and supports the health care needs of approximately 2.2 million Californians, including more than 1.5 million Medi-Cal members.
Centene CEO Sarah M. London expressed gratitude for the opportunity to support Medi-Cal members’ dental health needs through Health Net’s new contract. Health Net Plan President and CEO Brian Ternan also conveyed the organization’s commitment to improving community health and providing essential dental services.
The selection of Health Net is part of a broader strategy to address social determinants of health, aiming to reduce health disparities, enhance outcomes, and improve access to quality care. Health Net’s whole-person care model is designed to meet the comprehensive needs of its members.
Centene Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, focuses on serving under-insured and uninsured individuals through a variety of government-sponsored and commercial healthcare programs. The company’s approach emphasizes local brands and teams to deliver integrated, high-quality, and cost-effective services.
The information in this article is based on a press release statement.
In other recent news, Centene Corporation reported strong second-quarter earnings, with an adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.42, marking a 15% increase from the previous year. The company also raised its full-year premium and service revenue expectations to between $141 billion and $143 billion, indicating optimism about future growth.
In terms of analyst interactions, Jefferies maintained a Hold rating on Centene but lowered its price target to $72.00 from the previous $74.00, reflecting adjustments to the earnings forecasts for the next two years. Wells Fargo, on the other hand, upgraded its price target for Centene from $81.00 to $93.00, maintaining an Overweight rating on the stock. Similarly, TD Cowen increased Centene’s price target from $80.00 to $89.00, also reaffirming a Buy rating on the stock.
In other company news, Centene expanded its Board of Directors with the appointment of Thomas R. Greco, a seasoned leader with over 40 years of experience in public companies. This appointment is expected to enhance Centene’s consumer marketing expertise, aiding the company’s mission to improve the health of its members. These developments highlight Centene’s commitment to its growth strategy, focusing on improving Medicaid operations and marketplace innovation.
InvestingPro Insights
As Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) secures a new contract to provide managed dental health care services in California, the company’s financial health remains a key focus for investors. Centene’s aggressive share buyback program indicates strong confidence from management in the company’s value, which is an important consideration for shareholders.
Moreover, Centene’s position as a prominent player in the Healthcare Providers & Services industry is bolstered by its high shareholder yield, a metric that combines dividend payments and share repurchases to show the total payout to shareholders. Although Centene does not pay a dividend, the share repurchases contribute to this yield, rewarding investors and potentially signaling undervalued stock. With a market capitalization of $39.64 billion and a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 14.26, the company is trading at a valuation that reflects its profitability over the last twelve months.
InvestingPro data provides additional context, showing that Centene is trading at a low revenue valuation multiple, with a price-to-book ratio in the last twelve months as of Q2 2024 at 1.45. This ratio suggests that the stock may be reasonably priced relative to the company’s book value. Additionally, Centene has demonstrated a revenue growth of 4.32% in the same period, showcasing its ability to increase earnings over time.
Investors interested in Centene’s future performance should note that 7 analysts have revised their earnings estimates downwards for the upcoming period, which could impact the stock’s near-term trajectory. Nonetheless, Centene’s fundamental strength is evident in its recent profitability and the expectation of analysts for the company to remain profitable this year.
For those seeking deeper financial analysis and more InvestingPro Tips, there are 11 additional tips available on Centene Corporation at https://www.investing.com/pro/CNC, providing valuable insights for making informed investment decisions.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.
(Reuters) – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation gave a fresh deadline of Feb. 10 to BlackRock (NYSE:) to resolve an issue regarding oversight into the firm’s stock in banks, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.
By Steven Scheer
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel plans to use tax revenue it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority to pay the PA’s nearly 2 billion ($544 million) debt to state-run Israel Electric Co (IEC), Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday.
Israel collects tax on goods that pass through Israel into the occupied West Bank on behalf of the PA and transfers the revenue to Ramallah under a longstanding arrangement between the two sides.
Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered the war in Gaza, Smotrich has withheld sums totalling 800 million shekels earmarked for administration expenses in Gaza.
Those frozen funds are held in Norway and, he said at Sunday’s cabinet meeting, would instead be used to pay debt owed to the IEC of 1.9 billion shekels.
“The procedure was implemented after several anti-Israeli actions and included Norway’s unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state,” Smotrich told cabinet ministers.
“The PA’s debt to IEC resulted in high loans and interest rates, as well as damage to IEC’s credit, which were ultimately rolled over to the citizens of Israel.”
The Palestinian Finance Ministry said it had agreed for Norway to release a portion of funds from an account held since last January with 1.5 billion shekels, calling money in the account “a punitive measure linked to the government’s financial support for Gaza”.
The ministry said as part of the deal, 767 million shekels of the Norwegian-held funds will pay Israeli fuel companies for weekly fuel purchases over the coming months. A similar amount will be used to settle electricity-related debts owed by Palestinian distribution companies to IEC.
Smotrich has been opposed to sending funds to the PA, which uses the money to pay public sector wages. He accuses the PA of supporting the Oct. 7 attack in Israel led by the Islamist movement Hamas, which controlled Gaza. The PA is currently paying 50-60% of salaries.
Israel also deducts funds equal to the total amount of so-called martyr payments, which the PA pays to families of militants and civilians killed or imprisoned by Israeli authorities.
The Palestinian finance ministry said 2.1 billion shekels remain withheld by Israel, bringing the total withheld funds to over 3.6 billion shekels as of 2024.
Israel, it said, began deducting an average of 275 million shekels monthly from its tax revenues in October 2023, equivalent to the government’s monthly allocations for Gaza.
“This has exacerbated the financial crisis, as the government continues to transfer these allocations directly to the accounts of public servants in Gaza,” the ministry said.
It added it was working with international partners to secure the release of these funds as soon as possible.
($1 = 3.6763 shekels)
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Romanians angered by the cancellation of a presidential election marched through Bucharest on Sunday to demand that the ballot should go ahead and that outgoing centrist President Klaus Iohannis should resign.
In a move that polarised voters, Romania’s top court voided the presidential election on Dec. 6, two days before the second round.
The cancellation came after state documents showed frontrunner Calin Georgescu, a critic of NATO, had benefited from an unfair social media campaign likely to have been orchestrated by Russia, accusations Moscow has denied.
The court ordered that the election be re-run in its entirety. The pro-European coalition government has yet to approve a calendar for the election, although party leaders agreed to hold the two rounds on May 4 and May 18.
Iohannis, whose term expired on Dec. 21, will stay on until his successor is elected.
On Sunday, tens of thousands of protesters, including left-wingers and those angered by the way the way the election was cancelled, joined the protest organised by the opposition hard-right Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR), Romania’s second-largest party.
“We ask for a return to democracy by resuming the election with the second round,” AUR leader George Simion told reporters.
Organizers said 100,000 people were at the protest, but riot police along the march estimated the numbers at around 20,000. Protesters waved flags and shouted “Freedom” and “Bring back the second round.”
“Our right to vote was broken,” said Bogdan Danila, a 43-year-old truck driver. “In addition, Iohannis was in power for ten years and did nothing for the people, while parties betrayed us, they are all corrupt. We want something else.”
Some protesters carried portraits of Georgescu or Christian Orthodox icons while street vendors sold flags and vuvuzelas.
“Authorities must say why they cancelled the election, we want to see the evidence,” said Cornelia, 57, an economist wrapped in a Romanian flag who declined to give her last name.
“At this rate we won’t be voting anymore, they will impose a leader like in the old days.”
It remains unclear whether Georgescu, who opposes Romanian support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, will be allowed to run for president again.
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