Federated Hermes Inc. Acquires 127,319 Shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC)

Key Points

• Federated Hermes Inc. increased its ownership of Centene Corporation by 82.9%, acquiring an additional 127,319 shares, bringing its total holdings to 280,954 shares valued at approximately $17 million.
• Several hedge funds have boosted their stakes in Centene, indicating significant institutional interest, with institutional investors now owning 93.63% of the company's stock.
• Centene's stock has seen a decline in analyst ratings, with Bank of America and Cantor Fitzgerald downgrading it to a “neutral” rating and adjusting price targets significantly lower.

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 82.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 280,954 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 127,319 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 0.06% of Centene worth $17,057,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Centene by 20.3% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 32,803 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,991,000 after buying an additional 5,529 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in Centene by 10.5% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 160,891 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,768,000 after buying an additional 15,253 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. boosted its stake in Centene by 6.2% during the first quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 41,514 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,520,000 after buying an additional 2,411 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Centene by 7.7% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 233,626 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,183,000 after buying an additional 16,698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in Centene by 2.0% during the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 26,561 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,613,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were bought at an average price of $27.62 per share, with a total value of $248,580.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 32,000 shares in the company, valued at $883,840. This trade represents a 39.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen reissued a "hold" rating and set a $33.00 price target (down from $73.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Bank of America downgraded Centene from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Centene from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Centene from $42.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $45.31.

Centene Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE CNC opened at $25.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.10. The business's 50 day moving average price is $43.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.59. Centene Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $25.11 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59. The company has a market cap of $12.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.42, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.44.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $48.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.42 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current 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.

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