Allstate Corp Buys Shares of 15,706 Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 15,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $951,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CNC. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in Centene by 75.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Centene during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Centene by 73.4% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Riverview Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Centene by 172.7% in the 4th quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 758 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CNC shares. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price target (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Argus lowered Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC stock opened at $60.78 on Tuesday. Centene Co. has a 52 week low of $55.03 and a 52 week high of $80.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.15 billion, a PE ratio of 9.74, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $59.91 and its 200-day moving average is $62.56.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued 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. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal 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.