First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Acquires Shares of 4,375 Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. bought a new stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 4,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $325,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Centene during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the third quarter worth $26,000. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $900,840.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 235,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,668,850.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Centene news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $900,840.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 235,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,668,850.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $774,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $886,731.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Centene Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of CNC stock opened at $75.14 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.41. Centene Co. has a fifty-two week low of $60.83 and a fifty-two week high of $81.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.17. Centene had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 14.19%. The company had revenue of $40.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.11 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on CNC. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $85.00 target price (down from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Centene from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.23.

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. 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.