Centene Corporation $CNC Shares Acquired by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 25.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,749,383 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 552,939 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.56% of Centene worth $149,237,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Centene by 42.7% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,049,494 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,820,000 after purchasing an additional 3,306,796 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Centene during the first quarter valued at $146,557,000. Boston Partners boosted its stake in Centene by 155.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,901,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,802,000 after acquiring an additional 2,373,280 shares during the period. 8 Knots Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 52.5% during the first quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC now owns 3,050,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $185,220,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,648 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Centene by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,396,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,169,768,000 after purchasing an additional 869,706 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of CNC stock opened at $38.19 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.49. Centene Corporation has a 1-year low of $25.08 and a 1-year high of $66.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.73.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.71. The firm had revenue of $49.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.50 billion. Centene had a positive return on equity of 7.82% and a negative net margin of 2.85%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.62 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Centene from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays set a $44.00 price objective on Centene and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 target price (up previously from $36.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Centene from $25.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Centene from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

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.