VCI Wealth Management LLC Grows Stake in Centene Corporation $CNC

VCI Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 14.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,572 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,736 shares during the period. VCI Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $737,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Centene by 5.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,091,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $673,393,000 after purchasing an additional 536,508 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Centene by 42.7% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,049,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $669,820,000 after purchasing an additional 3,306,796 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Centene by 3.1% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,810,489 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,045,000 after purchasing an additional 143,573 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Centene by 0.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,433,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,134,000 after purchasing an additional 28,462 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in Centene by 23.7% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,055,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,225,000 after purchasing an additional 776,331 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Centene from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Centene from $51.00 to $43.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Centene from $28.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Centene from $48.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Centene from $68.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.50.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of CNC stock opened at $35.61 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $17.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.81, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s 50 day moving average is $32.37 and its 200 day moving average is $43.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Centene Corporation has a 52-week low of $25.08 and a 52-week high of $70.11.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.39). The business had revenue of $48.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.71 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.15% and a return on equity of 9.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.42 earnings per share. Centene has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.750-1.750 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Centene

In other Centene news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $27.62 per share, with a total value of $248,580.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 32,000 shares in the company, valued at $883,840. This represents a 39.13% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sarah London acquired 19,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.50 per share, for a total transaction of $490,365.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 845,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,554,512.50. This trade represents a 2.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.