Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC Buys Shares of 37,480 Centene Corporation $CNC

Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 37,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,542,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Centene by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 52,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,165,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in Centene by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 7,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Centene by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $450,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. increased its stake in shares of Centene by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 9,053 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CNC shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Centene from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Centene from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $47.00 price objective (up from $38.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Centene from $58.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Centene from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.24.

Centene Stock Performance

CNC opened at $65.18 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.96, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a fifty day moving average of $51.43 and a 200 day moving average of $44.36. Centene Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $25.08 and a fifty-two week high of $66.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $1.14. The company had revenue of $49.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.53 billion. Centene had a negative net margin of 3.25% and a positive return on equity of 5.57%. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Centene Corporation will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Centene Company Profile

Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that specializes in providing services to government-sponsored and national health programs. The company primarily acts as a managed care organization, delivering healthcare coverage and administering benefits for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and individual marketplace plans. Centene also contracts with federal and state agencies to manage specialty care programs and community-based services for vulnerable populations.

Centene’s offerings extend beyond traditional insurance to include a range of specialty and support services.