Handelsbanken Fonder AB Raises Stock Holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 141,935 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,340 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Centene were worth $8,598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its position in Centene by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $608,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. Forte Capital LLC ADV raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 5,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Centene

In other Centene news, Director H James Dallas bought 1,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $59.01 per share, with a total value of $99,903.93. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,903.93. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Thomas Greco bought 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CNC. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Argus lowered Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Stephens lowered their target price on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

Centene Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE CNC opened at $57.72 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $28.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. Centene Co. has a 12-month low of $55.03 and a 12-month high of $81.42. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.84.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly 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 business 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 revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

About Centene

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.