Focused Investors LLC Invests $9.18 Million in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Focused Investors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 151,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,178,000. Centene makes up approximately 0.3% of Focused Investors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Centene by 693.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Harris Associates L P increased its position in Centene by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,980,932,000 after buying an additional 1,420,825 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in Centene by 77.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,786,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,040,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214,425 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,736,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 4,390.8% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 687,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,668,000 after acquiring an additional 672,498 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNC has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Argus downgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.92.

Centene Price Performance

CNC opened at $58.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.44, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $60.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.15. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current 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.