M&T Bank Corp Purchases 17,144 Shares of Centene Corporation $CNC

M&T Bank Corp increased its position in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 24.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 87,974 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,144 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Centene were worth $3,620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WPG Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Centene by 44.5% during the 3rd quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Centene by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. lifted its stake in Centene by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 9,053 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Centene by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Snowden Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Centene by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 374 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CNC shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Centene from $44.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Centene from $48.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Centene from $39.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Centene from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.82.

Centene Trading Up 4.4%

Shares of CNC opened at $55.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market cap of $27.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.06. Centene Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $25.08 and a fifty-two week high of $64.15. The business has a 50-day moving average of $39.34 and a 200 day moving average of $39.75.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $1.14. The business had revenue of $49.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.53 billion. Centene had a positive return on equity of 5.57% and a negative net margin of 3.25%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Centene Corporation will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

About Centene

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.