Ethic Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Centene Corporation $CNC

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. has increased its stake in Centene Corporation by 30%, owning 63,517 shares valued at approximately $3.84 million following the purchase of an additional 14,651 shares.
• CEO Sarah London and Director Theodore R. Samuels II recently made significant purchases of Centene shares, with London acquiring 19,230 shares and Samuels acquiring 9,000 shares.
• Centene's stock has seen analysts downgrade its ratings and price targets, with the average target now at $42.20, down from previous estimates of as high as $72.00.

Ethic Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 30.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 63,517 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,651 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Centene were worth $3,840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CNC. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Centene during the 1st quarter valued at about $146,557,000. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 155.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,901,603 shares of the company's stock valued at $236,802,000 after buying an additional 2,373,280 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company's stock valued at $469,053,000 after buying an additional 2,319,952 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 1,788.1% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,245,511 shares of the company's stock valued at $136,033,000 after buying an additional 2,126,582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 111.5% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,608,213 shares of the company's stock valued at $219,055,000 after buying an additional 1,902,277 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other Centene news, CEO Sarah London acquired 19,230 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.50 per share, with a total value of $490,365.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 845,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,554,512.50. The trade was a 2.33% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $27.62 per share, with a total value of $248,580.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 32,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $883,840. This trade represents a 39.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut Centene from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald cut Centene from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $65.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen cut Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Barclays reduced their target price on Centene from $65.00 to $45.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Centene from $33.00 to $28.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $42.20.

Centene Stock Down 2.0%

Centene stock traded down $0.5790 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $28.8210. The company had a trading volume of 12,588,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,699,977. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $35.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.28. Centene Corporation has a 12 month low of $25.08 and a 12 month high of $80.59. The company has a market capitalization of $14.15 billion, a PE ratio of 7.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.40.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.39). The business had revenue of $48.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.71 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 1.15%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. Centene has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.750-1.750 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Centene 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.