Kennondale Capital Management LLC Invests $495,000 in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Kennondale Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 8,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $495,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in shares of Centene by 75.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Centene by 73.4% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Riverview Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Centene by 172.7% in the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 758 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other Centene news, Director Thomas Greco acquired 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on CNC. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Argus downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

Centene Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of Centene stock opened at $59.28 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.50, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $80.59.

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