Federated Hermes Inc. Increases Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 0.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 448,211 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,096 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Centene were worth $29,716,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Centene by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $892,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Centene by 1.0% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,068,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC lifted its position in Centene by 41.4% during the second quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Centene by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Centene by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Centene from $93.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $78.00 price target on shares of Centene in a report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Centene from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Centene from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.58.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC stock opened at $75.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.48. 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 twelve month low of $63.45 and a twelve month high of $81.42. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.56.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.02). Centene had a return on equity of 14.45% and a net margin of 1.79%. The business had revenue of $39.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.82 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.