Ballentine Partners LLC Takes $416,000 Position in Centene Corporation $CNC

Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 11,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $416,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 1.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,396,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,169,768,000 after buying an additional 869,706 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Centene during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,435,997,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Centene by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,186,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,258,586,000 after purchasing an additional 514,600 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Centene by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,208,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $718,547,000 after purchasing an additional 279,637 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Centene by 5.7% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,725,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $636,482,000 after purchasing an additional 633,946 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CNC. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Centene from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Centene from $28.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Zacks Research raised Centene from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Centene and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Centene from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.81.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of Centene stock opened at $43.31 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.51. The company has a market cap of $21.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.00, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. Centene Corporation has a one year low of $25.08 and a one year high of $66.81.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.71. The business had revenue of $49.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.50 billion. Centene had a positive return on equity of 7.82% and a negative net margin of 2.85%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Centene Company 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.