American Century Companies Inc. Has $134.10 Million Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,213,537 shares of the company’s stock after selling 49,104 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Centene were worth $134,096,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in Centene by 75.3% during 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 acquired a new position in Centene during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Centene during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Centene by 73.4% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Riverview Trust Co lifted its stake in Centene by 172.7% in the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group raised shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.92.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC opened at $58.88 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $29.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.44, a PEG 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.