Acadian Asset Management LLC Buys 296,086 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 30.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,259,345 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 296,086 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned about 0.24% of Centene worth $98,820,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Centene in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other news, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total value of $67,386.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,957,432. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total transaction of $67,386.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,504 shares in the company, valued at $1,957,432. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total value of $620,960.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 300,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,313,710.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CNC shares. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Centene from $92.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Centene from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Baird R W upgraded Centene to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Centene from $90.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Centene presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.23.

Centene Price Performance

CNC traded up $0.55 during trading on Friday, hitting $66.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,541,722 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,879,950. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $60.83 and a twelve month high of $81.42. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.50.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $40.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.43 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 14.19% and a net margin of 1.76%. The business’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.11 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal 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.