10,755 Shares in Centene Corporation $CNC Bought by Global Retirement Partners LLC

Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 10,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $690,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 117.0% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 31,798,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,308,518,000 after purchasing an additional 17,143,904 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Centene during the fourth quarter worth about $332,044,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. increased its position in Centene by 184.0% during the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 9,046,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,761,000 after buying an additional 5,860,630 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Centene in the second quarter valued at approximately $159,011,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Centene by 52.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,171,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,111,000 after buying an additional 2,472,341 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CNC. Morgan Stanley set a $66.00 target price on Centene in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $79.00 price objective (up from $68.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Centene from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Centene from $46.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Centene from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.05.

Centene Stock Up 1.4%

CNC opened at $65.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $64.96 and a 200-day moving average of $52.01. Centene Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.24 and a fifty-two week high of $69.36. The company has a market capitalization of $32.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.08.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $1.42. The business had revenue of $53.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.64 billion. Centene had a negative net margin of 2.51% and a positive return on equity of 12.12%. Centene’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.16) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Centene Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Centene Company Profile

Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that specializes in providing services to government-sponsored and national health programs. The company primarily acts as a managed care organization, delivering healthcare coverage and administering benefits for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and individual marketplace plans. Centene also contracts with federal and state agencies to manage specialty care programs and community-based services for vulnerable populations.

Centene’s offerings extend beyond traditional insurance to include a range of specialty and support services.