13,776 Shares in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Acquired by Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super

Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super purchased a new stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 13,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $835,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter worth $1,536,167,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Centene by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company's stock worth $639,450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,358 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Centene by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,803,437 shares of the company's stock valued at $230,412,000 after purchasing an additional 130,895 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,279,433 shares of the company's stock worth $198,668,000 after purchasing an additional 480,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased 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 buying an additional 1,214,425 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Centene Stock Performance

NYSE CNC traded down $2.10 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $58.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 946,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,687,275. 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 cap of $29.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $59.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.23. Centene Co. has a 12 month low of $55.03 and a 12 month high of $80.59.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Guggenheim started coverage on Centene in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Centene from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Argus downgraded shares of Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Centene currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.69.

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.