98,605 Shares in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Acquired by New Age Alpha Advisors LLC

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 98,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,973,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Easterly Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 164,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,983,000 after purchasing an additional 20,252 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Centene during the 4th quarter worth $1,536,167,000. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,998,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Centene by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 31,378 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,901,000 after acquiring an additional 7,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in Centene by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 51,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,116,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Centene Price Performance

CNC stock opened at $60.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. Centene Co. has a 52-week low of $55.03 and a 52-week high of $80.59. The company has a market capitalization of $29.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.65, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $59.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.86.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on CNC shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Argus cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

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.