Fore Capital LLC Acquires New Stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Fore Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,212,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Centene by 693.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,346,000 after acquiring an additional 1,490,935 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P increased its stake in Centene by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,980,932,000 after buying an additional 1,420,825 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its position in Centene by 77.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,786,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,040,000 after buying an additional 1,214,425 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth $53,736,000. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Centene by 15.4% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,126,000 after acquiring an additional 428,100 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Stephens cut their target price on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group raised shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

Centene Stock Down 0.2 %

CNC opened at $58.48 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.37, 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 quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. Centene Co. has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year high of $80.59. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.11.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued 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 company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Centene news, Director H James Dallas bought 1,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $59.01 per share, for a total transaction of $99,903.93. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 1,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,903.93. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders acquired a total of 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.