1,866 Shares in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Bought by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $446,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its stake in Centene by 26.7% during the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 51,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,245,000 after buying an additional 10,814 shares during the last quarter. Prelude Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Centene during the 1st quarter worth $1,560,000. Warther Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Centene by 163.7% in the first quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 67,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,253,000 after purchasing an additional 41,762 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Centene by 12.1% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 108,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,844,000 after purchasing an additional 11,649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toroso Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Centene by 161.8% in the first quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 25,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 15,787 shares in the last quarter. 90.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CNC shares. Wolfe Research cut Centene from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on Centene from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered Centene from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $94.00 to $73.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 30th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on Centene from $80.00 to $76.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.33.

Centene Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Centene stock opened at $67.81 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $65.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.10. The company has a market cap of $36.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $60.83 and a 1 year high of $87.84.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 28th. The company reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $37.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.56 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 1.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.46 EPS for the current fiscal 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. It operates in two segments, Managed Care and Specialty Services. The Managed Care segment offers health plan coverage to individuals through government subsidized programs, including Medicaid, the State children's health insurance program, long-term services and support, foster care, and medicare-medicaid plans, which cover dually eligible individuals, as well as aged, blind, or disabled programs.