National Pension Service Has $50.56 Million Stake in Centene Corporation $CNC

National Pension Service increased its position in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 931,519 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,416 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.19% of Centene worth $50,563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in Centene by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 3.7% during the first quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 99,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,040,000 after buying an additional 3,574 shares in the last quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene in the first quarter valued at about $205,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene in the first quarter valued at about $407,000. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its position in Centene by 38.3% during the first quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 23,195 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,408,000 after acquiring an additional 6,419 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CNC shares. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Centene from $28.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Centene from $28.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays set a $44.00 target price on Centene and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Centene and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Centene presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.47.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $36.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.08. Centene Corporation has a 52 week low of $25.08 and a 52 week high of $66.81. The firm has a market cap of $17.74 billion, a PE ratio of -3.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $34.82 and its 200-day moving average is $40.19.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.71. Centene had a positive return on equity of 7.82% and a negative net margin of 2.85%.The company had revenue of $49.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current 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.