State of Alaska Department of Revenue Reduces Holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lowered its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 18.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 88,039 shares of the company's stock after selling 20,200 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue's holdings in Centene were worth $5,333,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Czech National Bank grew its position in Centene by 5.4% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 107,157 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,067,000 after acquiring an additional 5,463 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Centene during the third quarter worth about $201,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Centene by 83.9% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 47,579 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,582,000 after buying an additional 21,700 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its holdings in Centene by 285.9% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 4,959 shares of the company's stock worth $373,000 after buying an additional 3,674 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Centene by 12.0% in the third quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 4,623 shares of the company's stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Centene

In related news, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This trade represents a 736.25 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher purchased 17,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $58.14 per share, with a total value of $1,000,008.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 486,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $28,305,284.58. This represents a 3.66 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 40,893 shares of company stock valued at $2,409,962. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com lowered Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Stephens lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $81.31.

Centene Stock Down 0.1 %

Centene stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $58.90. 3,451,076 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,395,492. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 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 $81.42. The company has a market cap of $29.73 billion, a PE ratio of 9.44, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.45. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $61.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.97.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $40.81 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast 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.