Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Holdings Decreased by Court Place Advisors LLC

Court Place Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its holdings in Centene by 57.9% during the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Centene by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 56,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,213,000 after acquiring an additional 11,067 shares during the period. Archer Investment Corp grew its holdings in Centene by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 9,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $683,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. HealthInvest Partners AB acquired a new position in Centene during the fourth quarter worth about $4,601,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Centene by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 676,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,186,000 after acquiring an additional 111,734 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $900,840.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 235,365 shares in the company, valued at $17,668,850.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Centene news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $900,840.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 235,365 shares in the company, valued at $17,668,850.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total value of $774,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $886,731.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CNC. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group lifted their price target on Centene from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Barclays started coverage on Centene in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $101.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 target price (down previously from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.38.

Centene Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Centene stock traded down $0.28 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $71.98. 3,064,304 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,056,916. The stock has a market cap of $38.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.66, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $60.83 and a twelve month high of $81.42. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $76.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.55.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $39.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.16 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 14.26% and a net margin of 1.75%. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.75 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.