New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Acquires 18,799 Shares of Centene Corporation $CNC

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 35.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 72,137 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,799 shares during the quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $2,968,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 7,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,444 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its stake in shares of Centene by 80.8% during the fourth quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 17,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $737,000 after buying an additional 8,005 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Centene by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,540,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,398,000 after buying an additional 39,830 shares during the period. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new position in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at $1,914,000. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Centene by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after buying an additional 2,951 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial raised their price target on Centene from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Centene from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded Centene from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Centene from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Centene from $48.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.65.

Centene Price Performance

CNC opened at $57.19 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $44.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.99. Centene Corporation has a 1 year low of $25.08 and a 1 year high of $60.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.24 billion, a PE ratio of -4.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.06.

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