Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Boosts Holdings in Centene Corporation $CNC

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 6.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,604,382 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 406,226 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 1.34% of Centene worth $358,486,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,435,997,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Centene in the first quarter worth about $146,557,000. Boston Partners raised its holdings in Centene by 155.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,901,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,802,000 after buying an additional 2,373,280 shares during the period. Finally, 8 Knots Management LLC lifted its position in Centene by 52.5% in the first quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC now owns 3,050,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,220,000 after buying an additional 1,050,648 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Centene and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Centene from $41.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Centene from $28.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Three equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of CNC opened at $37.89 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $36.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.97. The stock has a market cap of $18.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.49. Centene Corporation has a one year low of $25.08 and a one year high of $66.81.

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

Centene 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.