Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Grows Stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,657,215 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 98,509 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.33% of Centene worth $100,394,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Centene by 693.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company's stock valued at $103,346,000 after buying an additional 1,490,935 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P grew its stake in Centene by 5.7% in the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company's stock worth $1,980,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,825 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Centene by 15.4% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203,049 shares of the company's stock worth $241,126,000 after purchasing an additional 428,100 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Centene by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company's stock worth $97,082,000 after purchasing an additional 343,559 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Centene in the third quarter worth $236,940,000. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNC traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $58.90. 3,451,076 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,396,307. The company has a market cap of $29.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. Centene Co. has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year high of $81.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $61.23 and a 200 day moving average of $66.97.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last posted 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 analysts' expectations of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. Centene's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Centene from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stephens dropped their target price on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.31.

Insider Activity at Centene

In other news, Director Thomas Greco acquired 17,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at $1,153,712.75. The trade was a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher purchased 17,200 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $58.14 per share, with a total value of $1,000,008.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 486,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $28,305,284.58. This represents a 3.66 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 40,893 shares of company stock worth $2,409,962. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.