4,975 Shares in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Purchased by Investors Research Corp

Investors Research Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 4,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $301,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Independent Advisor Alliance purchased a new stake in Centene during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 125,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,628,000 after buying an additional 7,119 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 16,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $978,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the period. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL now owns 32,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,974,000 after buying an additional 2,270 shares during the period. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of CNC stock opened at $59.41 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The business has a fifty day moving average of $60.80 and a 200 day moving average of $64.29. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $55.03 and a 1 year high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Centene

In other Centene news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $58.86 per share, for a total transaction of $294,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,353,780. The trade was a 27.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Greco bought 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This trade represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CNC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays increased their price objective on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Stephens dropped their price objective on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

Centene Company Profile

Centene Corporation operates as a healthcare enterprise that provides programs and services to under-insured and uninsured families, commercial organizations, and military families in the United States. The company operates through Medicaid, Medicare, Commercial, and Other segments. The Medicaid segment offers health plan coverage, including medicaid expansion, aged, blind, disabled, children’s health insurance program, foster care, medicare-medicaid plans, long-term services and support.