Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys New Shares in Centene Corporation $CNC

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 23,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $779,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CNC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Centene by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,978,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,344,676,000 after acquiring an additional 190,334 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Centene by 117.0% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 31,798,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,308,518,000 after buying an additional 17,143,904 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,271,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $554,338,000 after acquiring an additional 697,277 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. boosted its position in shares of Centene by 184.0% during the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 9,046,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,761,000 after purchasing an additional 5,860,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,002,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $370,456,000 after buying an additional 603,585 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Centene from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Centene from $44.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Centene in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on shares of Centene from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.44.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of CNC stock traded up $0.65 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $66.70. 114,437 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,243,878. Centene Corporation has a 52 week low of $25.08 and a 52 week high of $69.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.08, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $59.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $1.14. Centene had a positive return on equity of 5.57% and a negative net margin of 3.25%.The company had revenue of $49.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Centene Corporation will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Centene Profile

Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that specializes in providing services to government-sponsored and national health programs. The company primarily acts as a managed care organization, delivering healthcare coverage and administering benefits for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and individual marketplace plans. Centene also contracts with federal and state agencies to manage specialty care programs and community-based services for vulnerable populations.

Centene’s offerings extend beyond traditional insurance to include a range of specialty and support services.