R Squared Ltd Invests $82,000 in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Vantage Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Centene by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 793,656 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,080,000 after acquiring an additional 109,839 shares during the last quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 13,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $814,000 after buying an additional 768 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Centene by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 78,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,736,000 after buying an additional 25,792 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in Centene by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,082,000 after acquiring an additional 343,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Centene by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 22,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 3,761 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sarah London acquired 4,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $60.80 per share, for a total transaction of $250,313.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 667,229 shares in the company, valued at $40,567,523.20. This represents a 0.62 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director H James Dallas bought 1,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $59.01 per share, for a total transaction of $99,903.93. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99,903.93. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 45,010 shares of company stock worth $2,660,276 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CNC. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Centene from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.92.

Centene Stock Performance

CNC stock opened at $63.93 on Friday. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $81.42. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $61.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.17. The firm has a market cap of $32.28 billion, a PE ratio of 11.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

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.