Legal & General Group Plc lowered its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 18.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,020,063 shares of the company's stock after selling 919,586 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.80% of Centene worth $243,535,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Centene by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 221,156 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,398,000 after purchasing an additional 10,515 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 68.4% during the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,189,000 after acquiring an additional 14,671 shares during the period. Polianta Ltd grew its position in shares of Centene by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 22,100 shares of the company's stock worth $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company's stock worth $97,082,000 after acquiring an additional 343,559 shares during the period. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Centene by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Washington Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,130 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,159,000 after purchasing an additional 5,550 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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. Guggenheim started coverage on Centene in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Centene from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $80.85.
Read Our Latest Research Report on CNC
Centene Price Performance
Shares of NYSE CNC traded down $0.97 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $62.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 815,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,686,354. The company has a market cap of $31.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. Centene Co. has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year high of $80.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $59.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.65.
Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.
Centene Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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