Forsta AP Fonden Purchases 28,000 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Forsta AP Fonden increased its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 17.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 184,900 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 28,000 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Centene were worth $12,259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 58.6% during the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 602,290 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,932,000 after buying an additional 222,581 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Centene by 7.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,922,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,470,000 after purchasing an additional 137,547 shares during the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its position in Centene by 42.5% during the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 40,016 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,653,000 after purchasing an additional 11,925 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Centene by 16.9% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 90,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,009,000 after purchasing an additional 13,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Andra AP fonden boosted its position in Centene by 12.1% during the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 424,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,144,000 after purchasing an additional 45,800 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Centene Stock Performance

NYSE:CNC opened at $74.81 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $39.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.87, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $63.45 and a 1-year high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $39.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.83 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 14.45% and a net margin of 1.79%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.10 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on CNC. Jefferies Financial Group cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $83.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Centene from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Centene from $92.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Centene presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.75.

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.