Vontobel Holding Ltd. Decreases Stake in Centene Corporation $CNC

Vontobel Holding Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 44.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,069 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,541 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Centene were worth $438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CNC. Focused Investors LLC grew its stake in Centene by 19.9% during the 2nd quarter. Focused Investors LLC now owns 1,250,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,850,000 after acquiring an additional 207,600 shares in the last quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. grew its position in shares of Centene by 35.8% in the second quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 65,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,551,000 after purchasing an additional 17,229 shares in the last quarter. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the second quarter valued at approximately $594,000. Berger Financial Group Inc grew its position in shares of Centene by 2.1% in the second quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 88,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the second quarter valued at approximately $19,994,000. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $33.00 price target (down from $73.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. Truist Financial set a $42.00 price objective on Centene in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays increased their price objective on Centene from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Centene in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “sell” rating and a $33.00 price objective for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Centene news, CEO Sarah London purchased 19,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $25.50 per share, for a total transaction of $490,365.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 845,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,554,512.50. This represents a 2.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II purchased 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $27.62 per share, for a total transaction of $248,580.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 32,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $883,840. This represents a 39.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Centene Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE CNC opened at $36.42 on Wednesday. Centene Corporation has a 12-month low of $25.08 and a 12-month high of $71.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $17.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.02, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.17.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) 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). Centene had a net margin of 1.15% and a return on equity of 9.57%. The business had revenue of $48.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. Centene has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.750-1.750 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 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. 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.