Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Sold by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP decreased its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 24.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 315,039 shares of the company’s stock after selling 102,568 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.06% of Centene worth $19,085,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 75.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 73.4% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Riverview Trust Co increased its stake in Centene by 172.7% in the 4th quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNC has been the topic of several research reports. Argus lowered Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Stephens cut their target price on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

Centene Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE CNC opened at $59.96 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.74 billion, a PE ratio of 9.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $80.59. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.73.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm 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 company posted $0.45 earnings per share. Centene’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share 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.