Heartland Advisors Inc. Sells 35,791 Shares of Centene Corporation $CNC

Heartland Advisors Inc. cut its stake in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 8.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 389,109 shares of the company’s stock after selling 35,791 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned 0.08% of Centene worth $13,883,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in Centene by 66.0% in the third quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 85,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,041,000 after acquiring an additional 33,875 shares during the period. Packer & Co Ltd bought a new position in Centene in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,487,000. ARGA Investment Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Centene in the third quarter valued at approximately $21,485,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 122.5% during the third quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 223,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,962,000 after acquiring an additional 122,870 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Centene by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 3,384,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,724,000 after purchasing an additional 199,016 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CNC. Wells Fargo & Company set a $43.00 price objective on Centene and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $59.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Centene from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Barclays set a $44.00 price target on Centene and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Centene from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Centene has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.81.

Centene Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of CNC stock opened at $40.53 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.55. The stock has a market cap of $19.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Centene Corporation has a 1 year low of $25.08 and a 1 year high of $66.03.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The company reported ($1.19) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.22) by $0.03. Centene had a positive return on equity of 4.25% and a negative net margin of 3.43%.The business had revenue of $49.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. Centene’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Centene has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.000-3.000 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 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.