Swiss National Bank Grows Stake in Centene Corporation $CNC

Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 7.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,442,524 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 96,700 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Centene were worth $47,228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new position in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 118.4% during the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 406 shares during the last quarter. Bayban bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Centene in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Stock Performance

CNC stock opened at $65.94 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Centene Corporation has a 1 year low of $25.08 and a 1 year high of $69.36. The company has a market cap of $32.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $63.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.44.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 positive return on equity of 5.57% and a negative net margin of 3.25%.Centene’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Centene Corporation will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on CNC. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $61.00 price target (up from $55.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price objective (up from $47.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Centene from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Centene from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.61.

About Centene

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.