New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Makes New $5.97 Million Investment in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 98,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,973,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Easterly Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 164,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,983,000 after buying an additional 20,252 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Centene during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,536,167,000. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations bought a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,998,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Centene by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 31,378 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,901,000 after buying an additional 7,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Centene by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 51,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,116,000 after buying an additional 1,412 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One 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 data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.92.

Centene Stock Down 0.5 %

CNC stock opened at $60.23 on Friday. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $80.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.88 billion, a PE ratio of 9.65, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.86.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal 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.