Natixis Advisors L.P. Raises Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 381,496 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,126 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. owned 0.07% of Centene worth $28,310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CNC. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter valued at $325,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Centene by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 458,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,008,000 after acquiring an additional 32,250 shares during the last quarter. St. Louis Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. St. Louis Trust Co now owns 44,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,287,000 after purchasing an additional 6,794 shares in the last quarter. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $745,000. Finally, Certuity LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter worth approximately $385,000. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $774,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $886,731.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $774,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $886,731.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the president now owns 235,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,668,850.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays raised their price target on Centene from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Centene from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 target price (down previously from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.23.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $74.81 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.92 billion, a PE ratio of 14.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.41. Centene Co. has a 12 month low of $60.83 and a 12 month high of $81.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $75.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.88.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $40.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.11 earnings per share. Centene’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

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.