Hurley Capital LLC Makes New $26,000 Investment in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 221,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,398,000 after acquiring an additional 10,515 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd lifted its stake in Centene by 68.4% in the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,189,000 after purchasing an additional 14,671 shares during the last quarter. Polianta Ltd boosted its position in Centene by 41.7% in the fourth quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 22,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Centene by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,082,000 after buying an additional 343,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Washington Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 5,550 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Centene Trading Down 3.4 %

NYSE CNC opened at $62.13 on Friday. Centene Co. has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year high of $80.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. Research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CNC shares. Stephens reduced their price objective on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.