National Bank of Canada FI Reduces Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

National Bank of Canada FI reduced its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 59.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 277,763 shares of the company's stock after selling 402,316 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned 0.06% of Centene worth $16,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in shares of Centene by 75.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Centene in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 73.4% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 172.7% during the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 758 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Centene from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group raised shares of Centene from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.85.

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Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC stock traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $62.65. 5,439,758 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,674,890. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.89. Centene Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.03 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59. The firm has a market cap of $31.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.04, 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 (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for 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 company's revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast 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.