D.A. Davidson & CO. Sells 1,507 Shares of Centene Corporation $CNC

D.A. Davidson & CO. decreased its holdings in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 2.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,483 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,507 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Centene were worth $3,120,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Centene by 5.1% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,091,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $673,393,000 after purchasing an additional 536,508 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 42.7% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,049,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $669,820,000 after buying an additional 3,306,796 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 3.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,810,489 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,045,000 after buying an additional 143,573 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,433,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,134,000 after buying an additional 28,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 23.7% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,055,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,225,000 after buying an additional 776,331 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Centene news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $27.62 per share, with a total value of $248,580.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 32,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $883,840. The trade was a 39.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sarah London purchased 19,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $25.50 per share, with a total value of $490,365.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 845,275 shares in the company, valued at $21,554,512.50. This trade represents a 2.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CNC. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 5th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Centene from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $33.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Centene from $48.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $52.00 to $30.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Centene presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.50.

Centene Price Performance

CNC opened at $34.07 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $33.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. Centene Corporation has a 52 week low of $25.08 and a 52 week high of $70.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.73 billion, a PE ratio of 8.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.48.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.39). Centene had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 1.15%.The business had revenue of $48.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.42 EPS. Centene’s revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

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.