denkapparat Operations GmbH Acquires 6,810 Shares of Centene Corporation $CNC

denkapparat Operations GmbH raised its holdings in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 86.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,710 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,810 shares during the period. denkapparat Operations GmbH’s holdings in Centene were worth $798,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 42.7% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,049,494 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,820,000 after acquiring an additional 3,306,796 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Centene during the 1st quarter valued at $146,557,000. Boston Partners raised its holdings in Centene by 155.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,901,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,802,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373,280 shares in the last quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Centene by 52.5% in the 1st quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC now owns 3,050,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,648 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 23.7% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,055,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,225,000 after purchasing an additional 776,331 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CNC. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $68.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays set a $44.00 target price on Centene and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $38.00 price target (up from $33.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Centene from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Centene from $25.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.82.

Centene Trading Up 3.4%

Centene stock opened at $35.40 on Wednesday. Centene Corporation has a 12 month low of $25.08 and a 12 month high of $66.81. The company has a market capitalization of $17.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.49. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.25. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by $0.71. Centene had a positive return on equity of 7.82% and a negative net margin of 2.85%.The firm had revenue of $49.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.