Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Buys 128,849 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 39.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 457,694 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 128,849 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned 0.09% of Centene worth $35,920,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Baird R W raised shares of Centene to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Centene from $91.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $83.00 to $69.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com raised Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.86.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total value of $620,960.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 300,357 shares in the company, valued at $23,313,710.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total value of $67,386.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,504 shares in the company, valued at $1,957,432. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total value of $620,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 300,357 shares in the company, valued at $23,313,710.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Centene Price Performance

NYSE CNC traded up $3.62 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $77.10. 6,217,335 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,488,560. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $41.15 billion, a PE ratio of 14.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.50. Centene Co. has a fifty-two week low of $60.83 and a fifty-two week high of $81.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $68.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.66.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.02). Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The firm had revenue of $39.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

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.