Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Boosts Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 148.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 36,721 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 21,967 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in Centene were worth $2,225,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,536,167,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Centene by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company's stock valued at $639,450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,358 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,490,935 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Centene by 77.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,786,770 shares of the company's stock valued at $176,040,000 after buying an additional 1,214,425 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 80.6% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 2,080,826 shares of the company's stock valued at $126,056,000 after buying an additional 928,465 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Centene Stock Up 3.7 %

CNC stock opened at $60.18 on Wednesday. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $80.59. The stock has a market cap of $29.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. 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's 50 day moving average is $59.86 and its 200 day moving average is $61.13.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CNC. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Argus lowered shares of Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of 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 report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Centene from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Guggenheim began coverage on Centene in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.69.

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.

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