Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires 44,536 Shares of Centene Corporation $CNC

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 7.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 618,167 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 44,536 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.13% of Centene worth $33,554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the first quarter worth $26,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Centene by 203.1% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 579 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the second quarter worth $77,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Centene by 78.1% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management raised its position in shares of Centene by 44.9% during the second quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 1,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Stock Down 3.0%

NYSE:CNC opened at $33.06 on Tuesday. 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 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $16.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.18, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $33.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.35.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.39). The firm had revenue of $48.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.71 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 1.15%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CNC shares. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on Centene from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Centene from $48.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Centene in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “sell” rating and a $33.00 price objective for the company. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Centene

In other news, CEO Sarah London acquired 19,230 shares of Centene stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.50 per share, with a total value of $490,365.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 845,275 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Centene Company 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.