Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Raises Stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 18.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,091,175 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 168,856 shares during the quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $66,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CNC shares. StockNews.com downgraded Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stephens decreased their price target on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Thomas Greco bought 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at $1,153,712.75. This trade represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director H James Dallas purchased 1,693 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $59.01 per share, for a total transaction of $99,903.93. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99,903.93. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $58.48 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Centene Co. has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year high of $80.59. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $60.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.37, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released 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. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. Centene’s revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.86 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.