Centene Corporation $CNC Holdings Raised by First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 3.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 223,215 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,730 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Centene were worth $7,308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CNC. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Centene by 117.0% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 31,798,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,308,518,000 after purchasing an additional 17,143,904 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Centene in the 4th quarter worth about $332,044,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. raised its stake in shares of Centene by 184.0% during the 3rd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 9,046,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,761,000 after purchasing an additional 5,860,630 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 52.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,171,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,111,000 after buying an additional 2,472,341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Centene by 535.6% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,750,326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,176,000 after buying an additional 2,317,618 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Centene from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price target (up from $47.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Centene in a report on Friday. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Centene has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.61.

Centene Stock Up 2.6%

CNC opened at $67.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $33.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $63.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.26. Centene Corporation has a twelve month low of $25.08 and a twelve month high of $69.36.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $1.14. Centene had a positive return on equity of 5.57% and a negative net margin of 3.25%.The company had revenue of $49.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Centene Corporation will post 3.44 EPS for the current year.

Centene Profile

Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that specializes in providing services to government-sponsored and national health programs. The company primarily acts as a managed care organization, delivering healthcare coverage and administering benefits for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and individual marketplace plans. Centene also contracts with federal and state agencies to manage specialty care programs and community-based services for vulnerable populations.

Centene’s offerings extend beyond traditional insurance to include a range of specialty and support services.