CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC Acquires 2,871 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 45.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,242 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,871 shares during the quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $584,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 31,889 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,932,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Allianz SE bought a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $190,000. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 40.6% during the fourth quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 26,907 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,630,000 after purchasing an additional 7,769 shares during the period. Allstate Corp bought a new position in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth approximately $951,000. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Centene Price Performance

CNC stock opened at $62.13 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $30.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.96, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $59.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.35. Centene Co. has a 52-week low of $55.03 and a 52-week high of $80.59.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on CNC. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Argus lowered Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded 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 report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

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.