KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Invests $16.28 Million in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 268,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,283,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CNC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Centene by 693.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,490,935 shares during the last quarter. Harris Associates L P grew its stake in shares of Centene by 5.7% in the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,980,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,825 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Centene by 77.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,786,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,040,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214,425 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth about $53,736,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Centene by 4,390.8% in the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 687,814 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,668,000 after purchasing an additional 672,498 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on CNC. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price objective (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNC opened at $58.88 on Monday. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $80.59. The firm has a market cap of $29.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.44, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.27 and a 200 day moving average of $63.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.