TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Acquires 21,192 Shares of Centene Corporation $CNC

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its holdings in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 1,878.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,320 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,192 shares during the quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in Centene were worth $1,387,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Centene during the 2nd quarter worth $2,660,422,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Centene by 423.0% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,301,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $853,805,000 after purchasing an additional 10,757,914 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Centene by 12.4% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,517,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,173,000 after purchasing an additional 608,249 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 21.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,518,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,818,000 after buying an additional 802,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the second quarter valued at about $285,713,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 target price (up from $47.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $69.00 price target on Centene and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Centene from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group set a $79.00 price objective on Centene in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Centene in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Centene news, General Counsel Christopher Koster sold 56,500 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.90, for a total value of $3,779,850.00. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 248,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,648,332.60. The trade was a 18.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Centene Stock Down 0.8%

CNC stock opened at $70.27 on Thursday. Centene Corporation has a one year low of $31.63 and a one year high of $71.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.71 billion, a PE ratio of -6.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The company has a fifty day moving average of $65.64 and a 200-day moving average of $60.63.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $1.42. Centene had a negative net margin of 2.51% and a positive return on equity of 12.12%. The business had revenue of $53.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.16) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Centene Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Centene Profile

Centene Corporation is a diversified healthcare enterprise that provides government-sponsored and commercial health insurance programs and related healthcare services. The company’s offerings are primarily focused on Medicaid, Medicare, and health insurance marketplace plans, with an emphasis on serving individuals and families who may have limited access to traditional healthcare coverage.

Centene operates Medicaid health plans through state-based contracts and offers Medicare Advantage, Medicare prescription drug, and Medicare Supplement products through its Wellcare brand.