Advisors Preferred LLC Buys Shares of 30,568 Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Advisors Preferred LLC acquired a new position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 30,568 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,349,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Nilsine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 12,815 shares of the company's stock valued at $951,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,140,000. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 6,366 shares of the company's stock valued at $472,000 after buying an additional 976 shares during the period. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 28,176 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,091,000 after buying an additional 659 shares during the period. Finally, Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter valued at about $336,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and issued a $85.00 price target (down previously from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Truist Financial upped their price target on Centene from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Centene from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $85.46.

Centene Price Performance

NYSE:CNC traded up $0.70 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $72.75. 2,748,223 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,048,005. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $77.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.29. The company has a market cap of $38.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.38. Centene Co. has a 52-week low of $60.83 and a 52-week high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $39.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.16 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 14.26% and a net margin of 1.75%. The business's revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Centene news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $774,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $886,731.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Centene news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $774,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $886,731.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $900,840.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 235,365 shares in the company, valued at $17,668,850.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Centene Company 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.