CENTRAL TRUST Co Has $1.78 Million Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC – Get Rating) by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,922 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Centene were worth $1,784,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. James Investment Research Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Private Trust Co. NA acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $70,000. Finally, Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Centene

In other news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II purchased 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $71.88 per share, with a total value of $503,160.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 11,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $856,234.56. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher purchased 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 9th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $71.89 per share, with a total value of $215,670.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 310,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,354,554.95. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $71.88 per share, with a total value of $503,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $856,234.56. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 16,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,213,605 over the last ninety days. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Centene Stock Performance

NYSE:CNC opened at $63.54 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.03 billion, a PE ratio of 31.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $62.38 and a twelve month high of $98.53.

Centene (NYSE:CNC – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $35.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.37 billion. Centene had a net margin of 0.83% and a return on equity of 12.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Centene declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Friday, December 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CNC. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Credit Suisse Group increased their price target on Centene from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $94.00 to $79.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 8th. Argus increased their price target on Centene from $95.00 to $99.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. Finally, Bank of America cut Centene from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $100.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.94.

Centene Company Profile

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Centene Corp. operates as a healthcare enterprise, which engages in the provision of programs and services to government sponsored healthcare programs. It operates through the following segments: Medicaid, Medicare, Commercial, and Other. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in St. Louis, MO.