Procyon Advisors LLC Takes $274,000 Position in Centene Corporation $CNC

Procyon Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 8,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Oracle Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,936,000. Daytona Street Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Centene in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,566,000. AIA Group Ltd boosted its position in Centene by 102.5% during the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 127,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,544,000 after purchasing an additional 64,475 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Centene by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,878,973 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,320,000 after purchasing an additional 428,503 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in Centene by 114.1% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 45,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,885,000 after purchasing an additional 24,411 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Centene from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Centene from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Centene from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Mizuho set a $63.00 price objective on Centene and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.61.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of Centene stock opened at $66.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $32.96 billion, a PE ratio of -5.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $62.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.56. Centene Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $25.08 and a fifty-two week high of $69.36.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $1.14. The company had revenue of $49.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.53 billion. Centene had a positive return on equity of 5.57% and a negative net margin of 3.25%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.90 EPS. Analysts expect that Centene Corporation will post 3.44 EPS for the current year.

Centene Profile

Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that specializes in providing services to government-sponsored and national health programs. The company primarily acts as a managed care organization, delivering healthcare coverage and administering benefits for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and individual marketplace plans. Centene also contracts with federal and state agencies to manage specialty care programs and community-based services for vulnerable populations.

Centene’s offerings extend beyond traditional insurance to include a range of specialty and support services.