Centene Corporation $CNC Shares Acquired by South Dakota Investment Council

South Dakota Investment Council increased its position in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 16.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 365,999 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 52,100 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council owned approximately 0.07% of Centene worth $19,866,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in shares of Centene by 43.0% in the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 14,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $887,000 after buying an additional 4,393 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in Centene by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 58,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,581,000 after acquiring an additional 3,228 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Centene by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 117,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,304 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Centene by 42.4% in the first quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 1,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 7.6% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 118,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,171,000 after purchasing an additional 8,331 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Centene from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Centene from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Centene from $28.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $41.00 price target on shares of Centene and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Centene from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.53.

Centene Stock Up 0.9%

NYSE:CNC opened at $35.34 on Friday. Centene Corporation has a 52 week low of $25.08 and a 52 week high of $66.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $33.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.48.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by $0.71. The firm had revenue of $49.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.50 billion. Centene had a positive return on equity of 7.82% and a negative net margin of 2.85%.Centene’s revenue was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Centene news, CEO Sarah London bought 19,230 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $25.50 per share, for a total transaction of $490,365.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 845,275 shares in the company, valued at $21,554,512.50. This represents a 2.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.