70,105 Shares in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Bought by Magnetar Financial LLC

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 70,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,648,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pinebridge Investments L.P. increased its position in Centene by 52.4% during the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 327,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,298,000 after buying an additional 112,605 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Centene by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 624,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,046,000 after buying an additional 98,298 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in Centene by 435.0% during the 1st quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 20,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,574,000 after buying an additional 16,304 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 35.8% in the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 28,009 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,857,000 after purchasing an additional 7,385 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 189.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 24,162 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,895,000 after purchasing an additional 15,819 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Centene from $93.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Centene in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $83.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Centene from $92.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Centene to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.58.

Centene Stock Performance

NYSE CNC opened at $75.61 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $40.35 billion, a PE ratio of 15.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.46. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $63.45 and a 1-year high of $81.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $39.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.83 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The business’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.10 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.