Meeder Asset Management Inc. Makes New $1.60 Million Investment in Centene Corporation $CNC

Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 24,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,596,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CNC. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Centene in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,660,422,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Centene by 117.0% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 31,798,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,308,518,000 after purchasing an additional 17,143,904 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Centene in the 4th quarter valued at about $332,044,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. raised its holdings in Centene by 184.0% in the 3rd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 9,046,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,761,000 after acquiring an additional 5,860,630 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Centene during the second quarter worth approximately $257,279,000. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CNC. Wall Street Zen raised Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Zacks Research raised Centene from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $66.00 target price on Centene in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Raymond James Financial set a $75.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.05.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNC opened at $65.29 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $64.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.25 billion, a PE ratio of -6.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Centene Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.24 and a fifty-two week high of $69.36.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $1.42. The company had revenue of $53.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.64 billion. Centene had a positive return on equity of 12.12% and a negative net margin of 2.51%.Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.16) EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Centene Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Centene Profile

Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that specializes in providing services to government-sponsored and national health programs. The company primarily acts as a managed care organization, delivering healthcare coverage and administering benefits for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and individual marketplace plans. Centene also contracts with federal and state agencies to manage specialty care programs and community-based services for vulnerable populations.

Centene’s offerings extend beyond traditional insurance to include a range of specialty and support services.