Kera Capital Partners Inc. Grows Position in Centene Corporation $CNC

Kera Capital Partners Inc. raised its stake in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 90.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,831 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,243 shares during the quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc.’s holdings in Centene were worth $1,119,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Oracle Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Centene during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,936,000. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC grew its stake in Centene by 451.2% in the 3rd quarter. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC now owns 181,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,490,000 after acquiring an additional 148,900 shares during the period. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC raised its holdings in Centene by 161.1% in the 3rd quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC now owns 91,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,281,000 after acquiring an additional 56,730 shares during the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 1,075,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,356,000 after purchasing an additional 194,300 shares during the period. Finally, Kennondale Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Centene by 500.0% in the third quarter. Kennondale Capital Management LLC now owns 48,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,748,000 after purchasing an additional 40,815 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho set a $63.00 target price on Centene and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Centene from $44.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $61.00 price target (up from $55.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Centene from $48.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Centene from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.24.

Centene Stock Performance

NYSE:CNC opened at $61.06 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.99. 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 Corporation has a twelve month low of $25.08 and a twelve month high of $66.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.65, a PEG ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.09.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $49.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.53 billion. Centene had a positive return on equity of 5.57% and a negative net margin of 3.25%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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.