Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Stock Position Lowered by Schroder Investment Management Group

Schroder Investment Management Group decreased its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 75,886 shares of the company's stock after selling 13,485 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group's holdings in Centene were worth $4,597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Centene by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 221,156 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,398,000 after buying an additional 10,515 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 68.4% in the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company's stock worth $2,189,000 after buying an additional 14,671 shares during the period. Polianta Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 41.7% in the fourth quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 22,100 shares of the company's stock worth $1,338,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its position in Centene by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company's stock valued at $97,082,000 after purchasing an additional 343,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Centene by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Washington Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,130 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 5,550 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

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Centene Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE CNC traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $62.03. 1,553,699 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,662,911. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $80.59. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $59.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.77 billion, a PE ratio of 9.93, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Stephens cut 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. Argus lowered Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $80.85.

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.