Centene Corporation $CNC Shares Sold by Prudential PLC

Key Points

• Prudential PLC has significantly reduced its holdings in Centene Corporation by 52.2%, selling 9,305 shares and now owning 8,535 shares valued at approximately $518,000.
• Analysts have been adjusting their ratings on Centene, with the most notable downgrade by Cantor Fitzgerald from "overweight" to "neutral," lowering the price target from $65.00 to $38.00.
• Centene's recent quarterly earnings showed a net loss of ($0.16) per share, falling short of expectations, despite a revenue increase of 22.4% year-over-year, totaling $48.74 billion.

Prudential PLC cut its holdings in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 52.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,535 shares of the company's stock after selling 9,305 shares during the period. Prudential PLC's holdings in Centene were worth $518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Centene by 5.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,091,964 shares of the company's stock valued at $673,393,000 after acquiring an additional 536,508 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Centene by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company's stock valued at $469,053,000 after acquiring an additional 2,319,952 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Centene by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,469,062 shares of the company's stock valued at $391,854,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578,917 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Centene by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,294,816 shares of the company's stock valued at $320,760,000 after acquiring an additional 443,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in Centene by 23.7% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,055,764 shares of the company's stock valued at $246,225,000 after acquiring an additional 776,331 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $65.00 to $45.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of 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 report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $68.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $42.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $33.00 price target (down previously from $73.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Monday, July 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $42.20.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other Centene news, CEO Sarah London purchased 19,230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.50 per share, for a total transaction of $490,365.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 845,275 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,554,512.50. The trade was a 2.33% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II purchased 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $27.62 per share, for a total transaction of $248,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 32,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $883,840. The trade was 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 NYSE CNC traded up $0.2950 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $29.6250. The company had a trading volume of 7,669,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,650,349. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.43. Centene Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $25.08 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.39). The business had revenue of $48.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.71 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 1.15%.The business's revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. Centene has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.750-1.750 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

About Centene

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.