Heartland Advisors Inc. Has $23.76 Million Holdings in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC)

Key Points

• Heartland Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in Centene Corporation by 14.3% in the first quarter, now owning 391,285 shares valued at approximately $23.76 million.
• Analysts have significantly revised their price targets for Centene, with a drop from $73 to $33 by TD Cowen and a similar reduction from $70 to $33 by Morgan Stanley.
• Centene stock recently fell 9.2%, and the company reported a disappointing EPS of ($0.16), missing the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $2.23.

Heartland Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 14.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 391,285 shares of the company's stock after selling 65,351 shares during the period. Centene makes up 1.4% of Heartland Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned 0.08% of Centene worth $23,755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter valued at $1,536,167,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Centene by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company's stock worth $639,450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,358 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Centene by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company's stock worth $469,053,000 after purchasing an additional 2,319,952 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Centene by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,469,062 shares of the company's stock worth $391,854,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578,917 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Centene by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,294,816 shares of the company's stock worth $320,760,000 after purchasing an additional 443,121 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $33.00 target price (down previously from $73.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Centene from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $70.00 to $33.00 in a report on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $45.00 target price (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $84.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $49.94.

Centene Stock Down 9.2%

Shares of CNC opened at $26.72 on Friday. Centene Corporation has a 12 month low of $26.66 and a 12 month high of $80.59. The firm's 50 day moving average is $47.43 and its 200-day moving average is $56.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.29 billion, a PE ratio of 3.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.07 by ($2.23). Centene had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 2.04%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 EPS 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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