Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Has $1.63 Million Holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 40.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,907 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 7,769 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Centene were worth $1,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allstate Corp acquired a new position in Centene in the 4th quarter worth $951,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. DnB Asset Management AS increased its stake in Centene by 210.7% in the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 272,396 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,502,000 after buying an additional 184,723 shares during the last quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH bought a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter worth about $387,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,973,000. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Centene from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $79.92.

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Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNC traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $60.47. 863,532 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,590,246. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $80.59. The company has a market cap of $30.00 billion, a PE ratio of 9.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $59.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.45.

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

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.