Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Purchased by Banque Cantonale Vaudoise

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 8,693 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 935 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Centene were worth $576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Centene by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 3,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Centene by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $765,000 after acquiring an additional 1,204 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its position in Centene by 27.4% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 6,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,460 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 458,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,008,000 after purchasing an additional 32,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter worth $325,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of Centene stock opened at $78.83 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.92. The company has a market cap of $42.07 billion, a PE ratio of 15.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.50. Centene Co. has a one year low of $60.83 and a one year high of $81.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.02). Centene had a return on equity of 14.45% and a net margin of 1.79%. The firm had revenue of $39.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Centene from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Centene from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $92.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $83.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Centene from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.77.

Centene 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.