Archer Investment Corp Has $683,000 Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Archer Investment Corp increased its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 12.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,200 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the quarter. Archer Investment Corp’s holdings in Centene were worth $683,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HealthInvest Partners AB acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,601,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 676,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,186,000 after buying an additional 111,734 shares during the last quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,766 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,541,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 381,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,315,000 after buying an additional 15,942 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MBM Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 14,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,064,000 after buying an additional 1,063 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CNC. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com cut Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Centene from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective (down from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Centene from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Centene

In other Centene news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total value of $774,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $886,731.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $774,100.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $886,731.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $900,840.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 235,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,668,850.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Centene Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of CNC traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $72.15. 1,590,970 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,035,507. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $60.83 and a 1-year high of $81.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.59 billion, a PE ratio of 14.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a fifty day moving average of $76.72 and a 200-day moving average of $74.55.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.02. Centene had a return on equity of 14.26% and a net margin of 1.75%. The business had revenue of $39.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.75 EPS 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.