Centene Corporation $CNC Position Increased by Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC

Key Points

• Focus Partners increased its stake in Centene by 215.3% in Q3 to 72,737 shares, worth about $2.52 million.
• Institutional ownership is very high at 93.63%, with large positions held by Vanguard, Norges Bank and State Street—each holding stakes valued in the hundreds of millions to billions.
• Centene has a consensus analyst rating of Hold with a $42.44 price target, and recently reported an EPS beat (‑$1.19 vs. ‑$1.22 est.) and revenue of $49.73 billion, up 21.9% year‑over‑year.

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 215.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 72,737 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 49,670 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC's holdings in Centene were worth $2,520,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 1.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,396,605 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,169,768,000 after acquiring an additional 869,706 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,435,997,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 2.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,186,927 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,258,586,000 after buying an additional 514,600 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Centene by 2.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,208,639 shares of the company's stock worth $718,547,000 after buying an additional 279,637 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Centene by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,725,910 shares of the company's stock worth $636,482,000 after buying an additional 633,946 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on CNC shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, February 15th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $44.00 target price on Centene and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Centene from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Centene from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Centene has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $42.44.

Centene Trading Up 2.8%

NYSE CNC opened at $45.06 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $22.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.31, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.48. Centene Corporation has a twelve month low of $25.08 and a twelve month high of $66.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $43.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.92.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 6th. The company reported ($1.19) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.22) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $49.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.41 billion. Centene had a positive return on equity of 4.25% and a negative net margin of 3.43%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. Centene has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.000-3.000 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Centene Company 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.