Nuveen LLC Purchases New Stake in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC)

Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,414,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $146,557,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of Centene by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the period. Poinciana Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Centene by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Poinciana Advisors Group LLC now owns 7,221 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel lifted its position in shares of Centene by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 3,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 254 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Centene by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 5,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 9,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $27.62 per share, with a total value of $248,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 32,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $883,840. This represents a 39.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sarah London acquired 19,230 shares of Centene stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.50 per share, with a total value of $490,365.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Centene from $33.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Centene from $48.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Centene from $42.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered Centene from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Centene has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.20.

Centene Stock Down 1.3%

NYSE:CNC opened at $25.25 on Tuesday. Centene Corporation has a 1 year low of $25.08 and a 1 year high of $80.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $12.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.25, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $39.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.88.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.39). The firm had revenue of $48.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.71 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 1.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Centene 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.