Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Sold by Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC

Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 19.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,660 shares of the company’s stock after selling 882 shares during the quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Centene during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Riverview Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 154.6% in the second quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 265.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on CNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Centene from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Baird R W raised shares of Centene to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Centene from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Centene from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Centene Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:CNC traded up $0.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $78.55. 2,121,723 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,459,605. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market cap of $41.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.62, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.50. Centene Co. has a 52-week low of $60.83 and a 52-week high of $81.42. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.88.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $39.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.83 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 14.45% and a net margin of 1.79%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.10 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.84 EPS for the current year.

Centene Company 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.