Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Has $588,000 Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. raised its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 23.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,710 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,842 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Centene were worth $588,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CNC. D.A. Davidson & CO. bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter worth about $3,378,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Centene by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 77,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,713,000 after buying an additional 905 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP raised its holdings in Centene by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP now owns 3,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $215,000 after acquiring an additional 967 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of Centene by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,414,439 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,687,000 after acquiring an additional 52,082 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its position in shares of Centene by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 7,119 shares of the company’s stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 918 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Centene Stock Down 7.3 %

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $56.83 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market cap of $28.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $61.04 and a 200-day moving average of $65.43. Centene Co. has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year high of $80.67.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their target price on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Stephens cut their target price on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Argus downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director H James Dallas acquired 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 1,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99,903.93. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Thomas Greco bought 17,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.