Heartland Advisors Inc. Buys New Stake in Centene Corporation $CNC

Heartland Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 152,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,764,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Centene by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,978,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,344,676,000 after buying an additional 190,334 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Centene in the second quarter valued at about $2,660,422,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Centene by 117.0% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 31,798,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,308,518,000 after acquiring an additional 17,143,904 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Centene by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,271,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $554,338,000 after purchasing an additional 697,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deerfield Management Company L.P. grew its position in Centene by 184.0% during the 3rd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 9,046,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,761,000 after purchasing an additional 5,860,630 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CNC shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Centene from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Centene from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $69.00 price target on Centene and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.05.

Centene Stock Up 1.2%

CNC stock opened at $64.94 on Friday. Centene Corporation has a one year low of $28.24 and a one year high of $69.36. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $64.96 and its 200 day moving average is $52.40. The firm has a market cap of $32.08 billion, a PE ratio of -6.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other Centene news, General Counsel Christopher Koster sold 47,603 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.36, for a total value of $3,111,332.08. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 305,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,957,937.44. This trade represents a 13.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

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.