V Square Quantitative Management LLC Has $487,000 Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 56.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 6,200 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,227 shares during the quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CNC. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 7.5% during the first quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Centene during the 1st quarter valued at about $998,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Centene by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 45,362 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,560,000 after purchasing an additional 2,159 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the first quarter worth approximately $556,000. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 14.4% in the first quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 5,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on CNC. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective (down from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Centene in a report on Monday, April 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Centene from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Centene from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.23.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC stock traded up $0.03 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $78.43. The company had a trading volume of 2,529,445 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,168,522. Centene Co. has a 52 week low of $60.83 and a 52 week high of $81.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $75.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.57.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.17. Centene had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 14.19%. The firm had revenue of $40.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.11 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total value of $620,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 300,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,313,710.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Centene 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.