Sapient Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 10,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $804,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NorthRock Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the 3rd quarter worth $206,000. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 85.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 50,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,493,000 after buying an additional 23,434 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 3,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 365,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,950,000 after buying an additional 21,892 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the 3rd quarter worth $205,000. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on CNC. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Centene in a report on Monday, April 29th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $85.00 target price (down previously from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays upped their target price on Centene from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Centene news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $900,840.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 235,365 shares in the company, valued at $17,668,850.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $900,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 235,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,668,850.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total value of $774,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $886,731.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Centene Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Centene stock traded up $0.48 on Friday, hitting $74.81. 4,706,732 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,598,060. Centene Co. has a one year low of $60.83 and a one year high of $81.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average of $75.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.88. The company has a market capitalization of $39.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.41.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $40.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.43 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 14.19% and a net margin of 1.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.11 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current 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.