Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Acquires 7,119 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 125,929 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 7,119 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.'s holdings in Centene were worth $7,628,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in Centene by 75.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 73.4% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co boosted its stake in Centene by 172.7% during the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 758 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CNC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $75.00 price objective (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group raised shares of Centene from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Centene from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Centene presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $79.92.

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Centene Price Performance

CNC opened at $58.61 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The business has a fifty day moving average of $60.76 and a 200 day moving average of $64.15. Centene Co. has a 52-week low of $55.03 and a 52-week high of $80.59. The stock has a market cap of $29.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.39, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $38.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other Centene news, Director Thomas Greco bought 17,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. The trade was a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II purchased 5,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $58.86 per share, with a total value of $294,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 23,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,353,780. This represents a 27.78 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Centene 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.

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