Graphene Investments SAS Grows Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Graphene Investments SAS grew its holdings in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 24.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 51,600 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,300 shares during the quarter. Centene makes up about 2.2% of Graphene Investments SAS’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Graphene Investments SAS’s holdings in Centene were worth $3,126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Harris Associates L P raised its position in shares of Centene by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,980,932,000 after buying an additional 1,420,825 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Centene by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,468,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,766,683,000 after purchasing an additional 111,654 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Centene by 3.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,768,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $434,255,000 after purchasing an additional 194,566 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,126,000 after purchasing an additional 428,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 693.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,346,000 after buying an additional 1,490,935 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Centene Trading Down 3.7 %

NYSE CNC opened at $58.51 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.45. Centene Co. has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year high of $81.42. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 1.90% and a return on equity of 13.32%. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. Centene’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Centene news, Director Thomas Greco acquired 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director H James Dallas bought 1,693 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $59.01 per share, for a total transaction of $99,903.93. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 1,693 shares in the company, valued at $99,903.93. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have bought 40,893 shares of company stock valued at $2,409,962. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Centene from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.31.

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.