Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Sold by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. trimmed its holdings in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 751,288 shares of the company's stock after selling 26,865 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.15% of Centene worth $45,513,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,536,167,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Centene by 693.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company's stock valued at $103,346,000 after acquiring an additional 1,490,935 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Centene by 77.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,786,770 shares of the company's stock worth $176,040,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214,425 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 80.6% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 2,080,826 shares of the company's stock valued at $126,056,000 after purchasing an additional 928,465 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter valued at $53,736,000. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports 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 report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group raised shares of Centene from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Stephens decreased their price target on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.85.

Remove Ads

Centene Stock Performance

CNC stock traded down $0.82 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $61.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,714,636 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,663,643. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $59.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Centene Co. has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year high of $80.59.

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

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.