Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Increases Stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 852,824 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned about 0.17% of Centene worth $51,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 839,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,636,000 after acquiring an additional 72,326 shares during the last quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund purchased a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter worth $321,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 39.5% during the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $197,000 after purchasing an additional 921 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 80.6% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 2,080,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,056,000 after purchasing an additional 928,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stevens Capital Management LP increased its stake in Centene by 66.3% in the 4th quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 9,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $574,000 after buying an additional 3,776 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on CNC. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stephens cut their price target on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Centene presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

Centene Stock Down 0.5 %

CNC stock opened at $60.23 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Centene Co. has a 52 week low of $55.03 and a 52 week high of $80.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.88 billion, a PE ratio of 9.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.98 and a 200 day moving average of $62.86.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 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.