APG Asset Management N.V. Raises Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

APG Asset Management N.V. increased its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 30.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 551,029 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 128,097 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. owned approximately 0.10% of Centene worth $34,087,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Centene by 1.0% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC increased its holdings in Centene by 41.4% during the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. raised its position in Centene by 10.0% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Centene by 5.0% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on CNC. StockNews.com upgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Centene from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Centene from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $83.00 to $69.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, 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 research report on Friday, August 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Centene presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.58.

Centene Stock Performance

Centene stock opened at $74.57 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $39.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.48. Centene Co. has a 12 month low of $63.45 and a 12 month high of $81.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $75.06 and its 200-day moving average is $73.41.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.02). Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The business had revenue of $39.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.10 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current year.

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.