Howard Capital Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,591 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Centene were worth $218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CNC. Private Trust Co. NA increased its position in shares of Centene by 75.3% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 773 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in Centene during the third quarter valued at approximately $66,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Centene during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Centene by 77.3% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 507 shares during the period. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its holdings in Centene by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $58.86 per share, with a total value of $294,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,353,780. The trade was a 27.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Greco bought 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954 over the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CNC. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Argus downgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Stephens lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

Centene Stock Up 4.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $61.40 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $30.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.84, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. Centene Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.03 and a fifty-two week high of $81.42. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share 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.