Empowered Funds LLC Purchases 41,327 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 17.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 279,783 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 41,327 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $16,949,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Harris Associates L P boosted its holdings in shares of 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. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Centene by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,468,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,766,683,000 after purchasing an additional 111,654 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Centene by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,768,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $434,255,000 after purchasing an additional 194,566 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Centene by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,126,000 after purchasing an additional 428,100 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Centene by 693.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,490,935 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:CNC opened at $58.95 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $61.23 and its 200-day moving average is $66.95. 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 52 week low of $55.03 and a 52 week high of $81.42. The firm has a market cap of $29.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.45.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Centene news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $58.86 per share, for a total transaction of $294,300.00. Following the completion of 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher acquired 17,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $58.14 per share, for a total transaction of $1,000,008.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 486,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,305,284.58. The trade was a 3.66 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 40,893 shares of company stock valued at $2,409,962 over the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on CNC shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Argus cut shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.31.

About Centene

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.