Victory Capital Management Inc. Grows Holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 824,260 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 12,050 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Centene were worth $49,934,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Centene by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 221,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,398,000 after purchasing an additional 10,515 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in Centene by 68.4% in the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,189,000 after buying an additional 14,671 shares during the last quarter. Polianta Ltd grew its position in Centene by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 22,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Centene by 17.1% during the third quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 683,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,478,000 after acquiring an additional 99,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,082,000 after purchasing an additional 343,559 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Centene has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Centene news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $58.86 per share, with a total value of $294,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 23,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,353,780. This trade represents a 27.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Centene Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of CNC opened at $60.03 on Friday. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $80.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $60.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.62, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Centene 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.