Transcend Capital Advisors LLC Grows Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Transcend Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 143.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,225 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 17,798 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $1,831,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Centene by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 248,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,744,000 after acquiring an additional 5,897 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 7.0% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $779,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Centene in the third quarter valued at approximately $236,940,000. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its holdings in Centene by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 118,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,892,000 after buying an additional 5,258 shares during the period. Finally, Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Centene by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $608,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Centene

In other Centene news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 5,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $58.86 per share, for a total transaction of $294,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,353,780. This represents a 27.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,153,712.75. The trade was a 736.25 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Centene Price Performance

Centene stock opened at $57.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $61.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.45. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $55.03 and a 1 year high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com lowered Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Stephens lowered their target price on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

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.