LSV Asset Management Grows Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 17.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,279,433 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 480,082 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management owned approximately 0.65% of Centene worth $198,668,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its holdings in Centene by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in Centene by 75.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in Centene by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Centene by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intellectus Partners LLC raised its position in Centene by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CNC shares. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Centene from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $53.00 to $64.00 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.85.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $62.65 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $31.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.89.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Centene Company Profile

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.