Wick Capital Partners LLC Makes New $541,000 Investment in Centene Corporation $CNC

Wick Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $541,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,978,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,344,676,000 after acquiring an additional 190,334 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Centene by 117.0% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 31,798,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,308,518,000 after purchasing an additional 17,143,904 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Centene by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,271,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $554,338,000 after purchasing an additional 697,277 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. increased its position in shares of Centene by 184.0% in the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 9,046,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,761,000 after buying an additional 5,860,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Centene by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,002,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $370,456,000 after buying an additional 603,585 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on CNC. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Centene from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Centene from $58.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Centene from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $61.00 price target (up from $55.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Centene from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.24.

Centene Trading Up 0.1%

Centene stock opened at $61.06 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $54.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.10. Centene Corporation has a 52 week low of $25.08 and a 52 week high of $66.55. The stock has a market cap of $30.15 billion, a PE ratio of -4.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $1.14. Centene had a negative net margin of 3.25% and a positive return on equity of 5.57%. The company had revenue of $49.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.90 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Centene Corporation will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.