8,163 Shares in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Acquired by Kennondale Capital Management LLC

Kennondale Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 8,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $495,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Centene by 693.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,490,935 shares in the last quarter. Harris Associates L P boosted its stake in Centene by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,980,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,825 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Centene by 77.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,786,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,040,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214,425 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Centene during the 4th quarter valued at $53,736,000. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Centene by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,126,000 after purchasing an additional 428,100 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas Greco bought 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNC 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. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $55.03 and a 1 year high of $80.59. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.60. The firm has a market cap of $29.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CNC. Argus lowered Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays raised their price objective on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.