Pineridge Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 1,046 Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $627,000 after buying an additional 795 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC grew its stake in Centene by 128.6% in the 3rd quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 258,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,780,000 after purchasing an additional 145,217 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its stake in shares of Centene by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 488,120 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,622,000 after purchasing an additional 27,969 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB bought a new position in Centene during the third quarter valued at about $2,066,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CNC. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $83.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays boosted their target price on Centene from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Centene from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.93.

Insider Activity at Centene

In other Centene news, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,957,432. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Centene news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the president now owns 300,357 shares in the company, valued at $23,313,710.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,957,432. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Centene Price Performance

CNC stock traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $68.93. The company had a trading volume of 3,722,889 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,428,190. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $73.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The company has a market capitalization of $36.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.47. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $60.83 and a 1 year high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $40.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.11 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.