Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Sold by Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC

Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 6.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,541 shares of the company’s stock after selling 292 shares during the period. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $301,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,325,441,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Centene in the first quarter valued at approximately $914,080,000. Harris Associates L P increased its position in Centene by 172.8% during the fourth quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 10,863,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $806,170,000 after purchasing an additional 6,881,450 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 60.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,216,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $409,390,000 after purchasing an additional 1,959,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Centene by 75.4% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 898,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,710,000 after buying an additional 386,379 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CNC. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Centene from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price 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, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $83.00 to $69.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Centene presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.58.

Centene Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:CNC opened at $75.35 on Friday. Centene Co. has a one year low of $63.45 and a one year high of $81.42. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market cap of $39.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.48.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $39.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.83 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.82 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.