Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC Has $763,000 Stake in Centene Corporation $CNC

Key Points

• Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Centene Corporation by 49.3% in Q2, ending with a holding valued at $763,000.
• Multiple analysts have downgraded Centene's stock, with Bank of America reducing the target price from $52 to $30 and setting an "underperform" rating.
• CEO Sarah London and Director Theodore R. Samuels II both purchased additional shares, indicating insider confidence amid market adjustments.

Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its position in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 49.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,048 shares of the company's stock after selling 13,640 shares during the period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Centene were worth $763,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 55.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 2,181 shares in the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Centene during the first quarter worth $237,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Centene by 2.5% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 19,567 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,188,000 after buying an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 15.6% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 232,044 shares of the company's stock worth $14,087,000 after buying an additional 31,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the 1st quarter valued at about $829,000. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CNC shares. Bank of America lowered Centene from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $30.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Centene from $68.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Centene from $45.00 to $31.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Centene from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sarah London purchased 19,230 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 acquisition, 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 purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $27.62 per share, for a total transaction of $248,580.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 32,000 shares in the company, valued at $883,840. This represents a 39.13% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of Centene stock opened at $34.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a market cap of $16.87 billion, a PE ratio of 8.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $32.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.03. Centene Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $25.08 and a fifty-two week high of $70.11.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.39). Centene had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 1.15%.The company had revenue of $48.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.42 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

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.

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