Proficio Capital Partners LLC Purchases New Stake in Centene Corporation $CNC

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 21,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,384,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 15.5% in the 2nd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 7,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 953 shares during the period. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. raised its stake in Centene by 110.5% during the second quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,381,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,703,000 after acquiring an additional 725,300 shares during the period. Montanova Capital LLC bought a new position in Centene in the second quarter worth about $6,361,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new position in Centene in the second quarter valued at approximately $515,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 10.9% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 46,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,000,000 after purchasing an additional 4,594 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on CNC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Centene from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley set a $66.00 target price on Centene in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on shares of Centene from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $69.00 price target on shares of Centene and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Centene news, General Counsel Christopher Koster sold 56,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.90, for a total transaction of $3,779,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 248,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,648,332.60. This trade represents a 18.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CNC opened at $65.06 on Wednesday. Centene Corporation has a 12-month low of $28.24 and a 12-month high of $69.36. The company has a market cap of $32.14 billion, a PE ratio of -6.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

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