M&T Bank Corp Acquires 17,144 Shares of Centene Corporation $CNC

M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 24.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 87,974 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,144 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Centene were worth $3,620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CNC. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Centene by 76.6% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,654,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $522,885,000 after acquiring an additional 6,356,152 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. lifted its position in Centene by 184.0% in the 3rd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 9,046,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,761,000 after buying an additional 5,860,630 shares during the last quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene during the 3rd quarter valued at $186,662,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Centene by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,716,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $310,989,000 after purchasing an additional 2,111,674 shares during the period. Finally, Long Focus Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Centene by 705.4% in the third quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 2,299,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,028,000 after purchasing an additional 2,013,560 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of CNC stock opened at $55.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Centene Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $25.08 and a fifty-two week high of $64.15. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $39.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.75. The company has a market capitalization of $27.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.21, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.06.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.90 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Centene Corporation will post 3.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on CNC. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Centene from $44.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Centene from $48.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Centene from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $47.00 price objective (up from $38.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Monday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.82.

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.