Wealthfront Advisers LLC Purchases 53,764 Shares of Centene Corporation $CNC

Key Points

• Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its stake in Centene by 19.7%, buying 53,764 shares to hold 326,941 shares (about 0.07% of the company) valued at roughly $13.45 million at quarter-end.
• Centene beat expectations in Q1 (adjusted EPS $3.37 vs. ~$2.12 consensus), raised 2026 EPS guidance, and saw its stock jump (~13.6%) amid analyst upgrades (Bank of America to Buy with a $60 target) and heavy bullish options flow.
• Risks remain: an estimated ~2 million drop in ACA individual-market enrollment, ongoing commercial enrollment softness, and recent insider selling/institutional rebalancing could temper the rally.

Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its stake in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 326,941 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 53,764 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC owned 0.07% of Centene worth $13,454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Centene by 455.6% in the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 739 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares in the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. WPG Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Centene by 44.5% in the 3rd quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 915 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 11,011.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 991 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. lifted its position in Centene by 152.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 1,010 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Centene

Here are the key news stories impacting Centene this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 earnings beat and guidance lift — Centene reported adjusted EPS well above estimates ($3.37 vs. consensus ~ $2.12), revenue beat, and raised 2026 EPS guidance after improving medical-cost controls. This is the primary driver of the stock move. PR Newswire
• Positive Sentiment: Cost controls + Medicaid strength — Management cited declining medical costs and stronger Medicaid performance, improving margins and lifting investor confidence in near-term profitability. Reuters
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America upgraded CNC to Buy with a $60 price target (from $34), backing the rebound story and providing further buy-side support. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: Unusual bullish options flow — Large purchases of call options (≈19,116 contracts) indicate short-term speculative/hedge positioning ahead of/after the print (possible short-covering or directional bets).
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings-call tone mixed — The Q1 call showed strong results but a cautious management tone on outlook details and membership trends; watch commentary for FY cadence. TipRanks
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst landscape — Some upgrades and higher targets (e.g., BofA) but a wide range of price targets and recent sell/hold calls leave consensus still mixed; volatility in estimates likely. QuiverQuant
• Negative Sentiment: ACA (Obamacare) enrollment drop — Reports show a ~2 million decline in individual-market enrollment after subsidy changes, a structural headwind for Centene’s individual business going forward. Forbes
• Negative Sentiment: Commercial enrollment slide persists — While Medicaid helped, commercial membership softness remains a risk to revenue growth and could temper margin gains. Benzinga
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling and large institutional rebalancing — Recent insider stock sales and big fund position turnover could keep selling pressure at times. QuiverQuant

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on CNC. Bank of America upgraded shares of Centene from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Centene from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday. Argus raised shares of Centene to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Centene from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $47.06.

Centene Trading Up 13.6%

Centene stock opened at $49.42 on Wednesday. Centene Corporation has a 52-week low of $25.08 and a 52-week high of $64.15. The company has a market cap of $24.30 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.24.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $1.25. Centene had a negative net margin of 3.43% and a positive return on equity of 4.25%. The business had revenue of $49.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.90 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Centene Corporation will post 3.01 EPS for the current year.

About Centene

Centene Corporation NYSE: CNC is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that specializes in providing services to government-sponsored and national health programs. The company primarily acts as a managed care organization, delivering healthcare coverage and administering benefits for Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and individual marketplace plans. Centene also contracts with federal and state agencies to manage specialty care programs and community-based services for vulnerable populations.

Centene's offerings extend beyond traditional insurance to include a range of specialty and support services.

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