Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Sells 1,530,056 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership cut its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 21.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,619,941 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,530,056 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 1.11% of Centene worth $340,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter valued at $1,536,167,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Centene by 693.5% during the fourth 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 raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,420,825 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in Centene by 77.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,786,770 shares of the company's stock valued at $176,040,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Centene by 80.6% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 2,080,826 shares of the company's stock valued at $126,056,000 after acquiring an additional 928,465 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNC traded up $2.63 on Thursday, hitting $63.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,442,198 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,585,521. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $55.03 and a 1 year high of $80.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a market capitalization of $31.43 billion, a PE ratio of 10.15, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.44.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. Centene's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on CNC shares. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Centene from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Stephens decreased their price objective on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report 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 company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $79.92.

Centene 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.