Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Buys 124,747 Shares of Centene Corporation $CNC

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 77.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 286,030 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 124,747 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.06% of Centene worth $15,526,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Centene by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $270,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Centene by 64.6% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 195,420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,864,000 after purchasing an additional 76,694 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Centene by 8.4% during the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,561 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Centene by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 99,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,040,000 after buying an additional 3,574 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schechter Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene during the 1st quarter worth approximately $205,000. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on CNC shares. Barclays set a $44.00 price target on Centene and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Centene from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Centene from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Centene from $28.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Centene from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.82.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of CNC stock opened at $34.20 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $34.44 and its 200 day moving average is $40.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.16, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.49. Centene Corporation has a 12 month low of $25.08 and a 12 month high of $66.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.71. Centene had a negative net margin of 2.85% and a positive return on equity of 7.82%. The business had revenue of $49.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current 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.