Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Bought by Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 14.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,333 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,467 shares during the quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings in Centene were worth $685,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,803,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,412,000 after acquiring an additional 130,895 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in Centene by 245.5% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $179,000 after purchasing an additional 2,094 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter valued at $203,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in Centene by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 22,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Centene by 59.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $481,000 after acquiring an additional 2,955 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Trading Down 1.0 %

Centene stock opened at $57.99 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.76 billion, a PE ratio of 9.29, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. Centene Co. has a 52 week low of $55.03 and a 52 week high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CNC. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Thomas Greco bought 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $58.86 per share, for a total transaction of $294,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,353,780. This represents a 27.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.