Swedbank AB Acquires 39,830 Shares of Centene Corporation $CNC

Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,540,662 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 39,830 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned 0.31% of Centene worth $63,398,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CNC. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Centene by 76.6% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,654,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $522,885,000 after purchasing an additional 6,356,152 shares in the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. increased its holdings in Centene by 184.0% in the 3rd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 9,046,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,761,000 after purchasing an additional 5,860,630 shares in the last quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC acquired a new position in Centene in the 3rd quarter worth about $186,662,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Centene by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,716,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $310,989,000 after purchasing an additional 2,111,674 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Long Focus Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Centene by 705.4% in the 3rd quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 2,299,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,028,000 after purchasing an additional 2,013,560 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CNC. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Centene from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $63.00 target price (up from $54.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Centene from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Centene from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.94.

Centene Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of CNC stock opened at $59.15 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $29.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.50, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $43.06 and a 200-day moving average of $41.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Centene Corporation has a 1-year low of $25.08 and a 1-year high of $60.76.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $1.14. The company had revenue of $49.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.53 billion. Centene had a positive return on equity of 5.57% and a negative net margin of 3.25%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Centene Corporation will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Centene Company Profile

Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that specializes in providing services to government-sponsored and national health programs. The company primarily acts as a managed care organization, delivering healthcare coverage and administering benefits for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and individual marketplace plans. Centene also contracts with federal and state agencies to manage specialty care programs and community-based services for vulnerable populations.

Centene’s offerings extend beyond traditional insurance to include a range of specialty and support services.