Farther Finance Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 162.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,617 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,094 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $432,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Centene by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 43,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,908,000 after purchasing an additional 682 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 80.0% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 87,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,828,000 after acquiring an additional 39,067 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 12.1% in the second quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 8,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $576,000 after acquiring an additional 935 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 5.2% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 27,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,816,000 after acquiring an additional 1,364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the second quarter valued at about $62,000. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Centene from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $92.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 15th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Centene from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $83.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.77.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of CNC opened at $80.21 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $42.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.95, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a 50-day moving average of $72.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.91. Centene Co. has a 12-month low of $61.31 and a 12-month high of $81.42.

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

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.