Bleakley Financial Group LLC Cuts Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC decreased its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 10.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,731 shares of the company’s stock after selling 666 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $431,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CNC. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Centene in the first quarter worth about $914,080,000. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Centene by 60.2% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,216,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $409,390,000 after purchasing an additional 1,959,460 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 22.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,461,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,799,000 after purchasing an additional 832,318 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Centene by 14.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,113,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $339,042,000 after buying an additional 636,683 shares during the period. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its holdings in Centene by 42.3% during the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 1,400,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,838,000 after buying an additional 416,003 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on CNC. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Centene from $92.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 15th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Centene from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $78.00 price target on shares of Centene in a report on Monday, August 5th. Seven equities research 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.58.

Centene Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE CNC opened at $61.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $32.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.48. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $60.65 and a 1 year high of $81.42. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $73.84 and a 200 day moving average of $72.53.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $39.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.83 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 14.45% and a net margin of 1.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.10 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.