Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Acquired by Impax Asset Management Group plc

Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 60.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,212 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,712 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings in Centene were worth $922,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Harris Associates L P increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,980,932,000 after buying an additional 1,420,825 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,468,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,766,683,000 after buying an additional 111,654 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Centene by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,768,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $434,255,000 after purchasing an additional 194,566 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Centene by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,126,000 after purchasing an additional 428,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Centene by 693.5% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.92.

Insider Activity at Centene

In other Centene news, Director Thomas Greco bought 17,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 5,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $58.86 per share, with a total value of $294,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,353,780. This represents a 27.78 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Centene Price Performance

NYSE CNC opened at $61.40 on Wednesday. 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.46 billion, a PE ratio of 9.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.49.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) 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. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal 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.