Centene Corporation $CNC Shares Acquired by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 108,774 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,602 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Centene were worth $5,904,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CNC. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Centene by 42.7% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,049,494 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,820,000 after acquiring an additional 3,306,796 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Centene in the first quarter worth $146,557,000. Boston Partners increased its position in Centene by 155.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,901,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,802,000 after buying an additional 2,373,280 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Centene by 111.5% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,608,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,055,000 after buying an additional 1,902,277 shares during the period. Finally, 8 Knots Management LLC increased its position in Centene by 52.5% in the first quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC now owns 3,050,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,220,000 after buying an additional 1,050,648 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Centene Trading Up 5.1%

Shares of CNC stock opened at $38.71 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.16. Centene Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $25.08 and a fifty-two week high of $73.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.39). Centene had a net margin of 1.15% and a return on equity of 9.57%. The firm had revenue of $48.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.42 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Centene has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.750-1.750 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 9,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $27.62 per share, with a total value of $248,580.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 32,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $883,840. This represents a 39.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sarah London acquired 19,230 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.50 per share, with a total value 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 approximately $21,554,512.50. This represents a 2.33% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on CNC. Wall Street Zen lowered Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Centene from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Centene from $51.00 to $43.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Centene from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $48.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.33.

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.