Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 291,616 shares of the company's stock after selling 19,738 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.06% of Centene worth $17,666,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 248,995 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,744,000 after purchasing an additional 5,897 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,353 shares of the company's stock valued at $779,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 118,114 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,892,000 after purchasing an additional 5,258 shares during the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,082 shares of the company's stock valued at $608,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 5,821 shares of the company's stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. 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. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Centene from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $90.00 price objective 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 given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $79.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas Greco bought 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. The trade was a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $58.86 per share, with a total value of $294,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 23,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,353,780. This represents a 27.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Centene Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CNC traded up $0.71 during trading on Monday, reaching $58.39. 1,252,873 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,442,177. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.96 billion, a PE ratio of 9.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $61.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.71. Centene Co. has a 12-month low of $55.03 and a 12-month high of $81.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

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