Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Sold by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 677,394 shares of the company’s stock after selling 134,111 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned 0.13% of Centene worth $41,037,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CNC. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Centene by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 221,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,398,000 after buying an additional 10,515 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 68.4% in the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,189,000 after purchasing an additional 14,671 shares during the period. Polianta Ltd raised its stake in Centene by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 22,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 6,500 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Centene by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,082,000 after purchasing an additional 343,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Washington Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,159,000 after buying an additional 5,550 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on CNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Argus downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.92.

Centene Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of Centene stock opened at $60.58 on Thursday. Centene Co. has a 52-week low of $55.03 and a 52-week high of $80.59. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.04 and a 200 day moving average of $62.88. The company has a market capitalization of $30.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 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 the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS 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.