Wells Fargo & Company MN Decreases Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Wells Fargo & Company MN decreased its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 17.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 520,624 shares of the company's stock after selling 107,447 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.10% of Centene worth $31,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 75.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Centene in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Centene by 73.4% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Riverview Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Centene by 172.7% in the 4th quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 758 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CNC. Jefferies Financial Group raised Centene from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Centene in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Argus lowered Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an "overweight" rating and set a $75.00 price objective (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.85.

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Centene Trading Down 1.4 %

CNC traded down $0.92 on Monday, reaching $62.94. 3,113,182 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,695,223. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $31.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.65. Centene Co. has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $38.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share 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.