Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 23.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,721 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the period. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $589,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CNC. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in Centene by 75.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Centene during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Centene during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Centene by 73.4% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co grew its position in Centene by 172.7% during the 4th quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 758 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.92.

Centene Stock Performance

NYSE:CNC opened at $58.88 on Friday. 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $60.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.27. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $80.59. The company has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.