CX Institutional Increases Stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

CX Institutional grew its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 7.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,919 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the period. CX Institutional’s holdings in Centene were worth $295,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 18.7% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 624,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,046,000 after purchasing an additional 98,298 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its holdings in Centene by 435.0% in the 1st quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 20,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,574,000 after acquiring an additional 16,304 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Centene by 35.8% during 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. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 189.6% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 24,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,895,000 after purchasing an additional 15,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its holdings in Centene by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 118,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,307,000 after purchasing an additional 8,103 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on CNC shares. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $98.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Centene from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Truist Financial cut their target price on Centene from $92.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.58.

Centene Price Performance

CNC opened at $63.01 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $74.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.80. Centene Co. has a fifty-two week low of $62.10 and a fifty-two week high of $81.42. The firm has a market cap of $33.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.48.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.02). The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current 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.