Groupama Asset Managment Reduces Holdings in Centene Corporation $CNC

Groupama Asset Managment cut its stake in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 70.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,649 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,900 shares during the quarter. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Centene were worth $416,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CNC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the second quarter worth about $1,435,997,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Centene by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,186,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,258,586,000 after purchasing an additional 514,600 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Centene by 76.6% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,654,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $522,885,000 after purchasing an additional 6,356,152 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Centene by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,725,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $636,482,000 after buying an additional 633,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deerfield Management Company L.P. increased its position in Centene by 184.0% during the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 9,046,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,761,000 after buying an additional 5,860,630 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company set a $44.00 price objective on Centene and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Centene from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Centene has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.81.

Centene Trading Down 3.4%

NYSE CNC opened at $34.36 on Friday. Centene Corporation has a 52-week low of $25.08 and a 52-week high of $66.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 6th. The company reported ($1.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.22) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $49.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.41 billion. Centene had a positive return on equity of 4.25% and a negative net margin of 3.43%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. Centene has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.000-3.000 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 EPS for the current 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.