Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Acquired by Kingsview Wealth Management LLC

Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC – Get Rating) by 36.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,132 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,974 shares during the quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Centene by 2.8% during the third quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,270,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,433,266,000 after acquiring an additional 855,690 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Centene by 12.1% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 29,944,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,533,562,000 after buying an additional 3,223,590 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Centene by 130.9% during the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,300,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $363,905,000 after buying an additional 2,438,316 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Centene by 0.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,979,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $336,672,000 after buying an additional 32,165 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in Centene by 5.7% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,399,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,489,000 after buying an additional 183,164 shares during the period. 93.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher purchased 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $71.89 per share, with a total value of $215,670.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 310,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,354,554.95. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher purchased 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $71.89 per share, with a total value of $215,670.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 310,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,354,554.95. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $71.88 per share, with a total value of $503,160.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $856,234.56. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 16,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,213,605 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on CNC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $94.00 to $79.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 8th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $97.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $100.00 to $85.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Centene from $103.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Centene presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.94.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of CNC opened at $63.34 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The company has a market capitalization of $34.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.05, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.26. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $62.88 and a 1 year high of $98.53.

Centene (NYSE:CNC – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $35.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.37 billion. Centene had a net margin of 0.83% and a return on equity of 12.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.34 EPS for the current year.

Centene announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Friday, December 16th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About Centene

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Centene Corp. operates as a healthcare enterprise, which engages in the provision of programs and services to government sponsored healthcare programs. It operates through the following segments: Managed Care and Specialty Services. The Medicaid Managed Care segment provides health plan coverage to individuals through government subsidized programs through Medicaid.