Marshall Wace LLP Buys New Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 126,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,374,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Centene in the 1st quarter valued at $914,080,000. Harris Associates L P raised its holdings in Centene by 172.8% during the fourth quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 10,863,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $806,170,000 after acquiring an additional 6,881,450 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in Centene by 0.4% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,652,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $678,033,000 after purchasing an additional 32,427 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Centene by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,491,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $364,117,000 after purchasing an additional 25,595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 60.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,216,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $409,390,000 after buying an additional 1,959,460 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Centene from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Centene from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays dropped their price target on Centene from $98.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Centene from $92.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.58.

Centene Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of CNC opened at $74.58 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.80 billion, a PE ratio of 14.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $75.23 and its 200-day moving average is $73.34. Centene Co. has a 12 month low of $63.45 and a 12 month high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.02). Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The company had revenue of $39.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. Centene’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.8 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.