Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 1,968,134 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,114,005 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,968,134 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.51% of Centene worth $3,520,546,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CNC. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 75.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 73.4% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Riverview Trust Co increased its position in shares of Centene by 172.7% during the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 758 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CNC. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com lowered Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

Centene Price Performance

NYSE:CNC opened at $59.38 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Centene Co. has a 12-month low of $55.03 and a 12-month high of $80.59. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $60.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share 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.