Great Lakes Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 13,806 Centene Corporation $CNC

Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 13,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $886,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Avaii Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the second quarter worth $348,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Centene in the 2nd quarter valued at $16,285,000. Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Centene in the 2nd quarter worth about $826,000. Bonfire Financial acquired a new stake in Centene during the 2nd quarter worth about $519,000. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Centene during the second quarter valued at about $18,279,000. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Centene

In related news, General Counsel Christopher Koster sold 47,603 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.36, for a total value of $3,111,332.08. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 305,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,957,937.44. This trade represents a 13.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CNC. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Centene from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Mizuho set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Centene and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Argus raised shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Bank of America increased their target price on Centene from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Centene from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.05.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC opened at $64.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $32.08 billion, a PE ratio of -6.22, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $64.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. Centene Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.24 and a twelve month high of $69.36.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $1.42. The company had revenue of $53.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.64 billion. Centene had a negative net margin of 2.51% and a positive return on equity of 12.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.16) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Centene Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Centene 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.