Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 32,300 Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 32,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,397,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Centene by 84,741.9% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 225,379,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,483,403,000 after buying an additional 225,114,221 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Centene by 8.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,788,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $605,351,000 after buying an additional 704,684 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter worth about $713,235,000. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Centene by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,023,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $414,918,000 after purchasing an additional 408,525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Centene by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,288,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $364,253,000 after purchasing an additional 187,958 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CNC shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on Centene from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Centene from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.38.

Insider Activity at Centene

In related news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total value of $774,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $886,731.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $774,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $886,731.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $900,840.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 235,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,668,850.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Centene Trading Down 0.6 %

Centene stock opened at $72.26 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.55. The company has a market cap of $38.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Centene Co. has a 52-week low of $60.83 and a 52-week high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $39.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.16 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 14.26% and a net margin of 1.75%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. Analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.75 EPS for the current year.

About Centene

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.