abrdn plc Purchases 104,416 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

abrdn plc lifted its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 62.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 271,092 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 104,416 shares during the period. abrdn plc owned about 0.05% of Centene worth $20,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new position in Centene during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Centene during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Centene during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in Centene during the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new position in Centene during the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on CNC. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $101.00 target price for the company. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $85.00 target price (down from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.38.

Centene Stock Up 0.3 %

Centene stock opened at $75.84 on Wednesday. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $60.83 and a twelve month high of $81.42. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $76.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.74. The stock has a market cap of $40.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.02. Centene had a net margin of 1.75% and a return on equity of 14.26%. The company had revenue of $39.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.75 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $900,840.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 235,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,668,850.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $900,840.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 235,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,668,850.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $774,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $886,731.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.