US Bancorp DE Raises Stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,263,383 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 57,997 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE owned 0.23% of Centene worth $85,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Centene during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Ellevest Inc. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 141.0% during the first quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Centerpoint Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the first quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, MRP Capital Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the second quarter valued at about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $87.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, September 14th. Bank of America raised shares of Centene from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 5th. TheStreet raised shares of Centene from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, September 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.39.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CNC traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $73.67. 246,832 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,460,157. The firm has a market cap of $39.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.46, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.49. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $60.83 and a twelve month high of $87.84. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The company reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.45. Centene had a net margin of 1.63% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The firm had revenue of $38.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Centene Company Profile

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. It operates in two segments, Managed Care and Specialty Services. The Managed Care segment offers health plan coverage to individuals through government subsidized programs, including Medicaid, the State children's health insurance program, long-term services and support, foster care, and medicare-medicaid plans, which cover dually eligible individuals, as well as aged, blind, or disabled programs.