68,804 Shares in Centene Corporation $CNC Purchased by Plato Investment Management Ltd

Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 68,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,391,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CNC. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Centene by 117.0% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 31,798,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,308,518,000 after acquiring an additional 17,143,904 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth about $332,044,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 184.0% during the 3rd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 9,046,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,761,000 after purchasing an additional 5,860,630 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the 2nd quarter worth about $159,011,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Centene by 52.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,171,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,111,000 after acquiring an additional 2,472,341 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CNC. Bank of America raised their price objective on Centene from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $69.00 price target on Centene and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $66.00 price objective on Centene in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Centene from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $61.00 price target (up from $55.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Friday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.15.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC opened at $67.53 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.69. Centene Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $27.76 and a fifty-two week high of $69.36. The company has a market capitalization of $33.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $1.42. The firm had revenue of $53.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.64 billion. Centene had a negative net margin of 2.51% and a positive return on equity of 12.12%. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.16) EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Centene Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share 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.