Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Acquires 130,895 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,803,437 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 130,895 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Centene were worth $230,412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 693.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,490,935 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P boosted its stake in Centene by 5.7% during the third 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. 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 during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,082,000 after acquiring an additional 343,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Centene during the 3rd quarter worth about $19,464,000. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Stephens cut their price objective on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial lowered their target price 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. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.92.

Insider Activity at Centene

In other Centene news, Director H James Dallas purchased 1,693 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $59.01 per share, with a total value of $99,903.93. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 1,693 shares in the company, valued at $99,903.93. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Thomas Greco acquired 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Centene Price Performance

NYSE CNC opened at $59.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $29.48 billion, a PE ratio of 9.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $60.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.74. 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 $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.