Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC Buys New Stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 28,050 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,699,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CNC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Centene by 693.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company's stock worth $103,346,000 after buying an additional 1,490,935 shares during the last quarter. Harris Associates L P boosted its holdings in Centene by 5.7% in the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,980,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,825 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Centene by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203,049 shares of the company's stock valued at $241,126,000 after buying an additional 428,100 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 343,559 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Centene during the third quarter valued at approximately $236,940,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CNC. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Centene from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and cut their price target for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.31.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This trade represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $58.86 per share, for a total transaction of $294,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,353,780. This trade represents a 27.78 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 40,893 shares of company stock valued at $2,409,962. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Centene Trading Down 0.1 %

Centene stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $58.90. 3,451,076 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,396,307. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $61.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.97. Centene Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.03 and a fifty-two week high of $81.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.44, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.45.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.97 EPS for the current year.

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.