Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Position in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its position in Centene Corporation by 1.0%, owning 57.5 million shares valued at $3.49 billion after selling 587,106 shares in the first quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors increased their stakes in Centene, with R Squared Ltd. raising its holdings by 526.5% and Banco Santander S.A. lifting its position by 203.7% during the same period.
• Analysts have cut their price targets for Centene, with revisions from firms like Oppenheimer and Mizuho, reflecting a consensus rating of "Hold" and a target price of $42.20.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 1.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,526,899 shares of the company's stock after selling 587,106 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.56% of Centene worth $3,492,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CNC. Factorial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 34.6% in the 1st quarter. Factorial Partners LLC now owns 72,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,371,000 after acquiring an additional 18,500 shares during the last quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Centene by 108.3% in the first quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,397 shares of the company's stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 3,846 shares in the last quarter. Malaga Cove Capital LLC increased its stake in Centene by 38.1% in the first quarter. Malaga Cove Capital LLC now owns 15,749 shares of the company's stock valued at $956,000 after purchasing an additional 4,344 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd raised its holdings in Centene by 526.5% during the first quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 8,520 shares of the company's stock worth $517,000 after purchasing an additional 7,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 203.7% during the 1st quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 172,069 shares of the company's stock worth $10,446,000 after buying an additional 115,411 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Centene

In other Centene news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $27.62 per share, with a total value of $248,580.00. Following the transaction, the director 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $51.00 to $43.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut Centene from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $65.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Centene from $45.00 to $31.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Centene presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $42.20.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of CNC stock opened at $25.23 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.83. Centene Corporation has a one year low of $25.08 and a one year high of $80.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last issued its 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). 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 analysts' expectations of $44.71 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.42 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 EPS 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.

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