Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Centene Corporation $CNC

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 3.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 191,078 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,043 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $10,372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Centene by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $341,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Poinciana Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in Centene by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Poinciana Advisors Group LLC now owns 7,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its position in Centene by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 3,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Centene by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank raised its position in Centene by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 97,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,910,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CNC. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Centene in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $33.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Centene from $28.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Centene from $48.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.50.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other news, CEO Sarah London acquired 19,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.50 per share, for a total transaction of $490,365.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 845,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,554,512.50. This represents a 2.33% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Centene Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of CNC opened at $33.06 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.48. Centene Corporation has a one year low of $25.08 and a one year high of $66.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $33.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.35.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.39). Centene had a net margin of 1.15% and a return on equity of 9.57%. The business had revenue of $48.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.42 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Centene Company 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.