Palisade Capital Management LP Buys New Stake in Centene Corporation $CNC

Palisade Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 92,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,923,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new position in Centene during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Centene by 118.4% during the 4th quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 749 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. MidFirst Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Bayban bought a new position in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Centene

In other news, General Counsel Christopher Koster sold 47,603 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.36, for a total transaction of $3,111,332.08. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 305,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,957,937.44. This represents a 13.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial set a $75.00 target price on Centene in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Argus upgraded Centene from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $66.00 price objective on Centene in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Centene from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $53.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Mizuho set a $63.00 target price on Centene and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.05.

Centene Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $64.92 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 market capitalization of $32.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.22, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.08. Centene Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.24 and a 1-year high of $69.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $65.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.80.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $1.42. The company had revenue of $53.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.64 billion. Centene had a positive return on equity of 12.12% and a negative net margin of 2.51%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.16) EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Centene Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal 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.