Ledyard National Bank Grows Stock Holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Ledyard National Bank increased its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,604 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 648 shares during the period. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Centene were worth $378,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Centene by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 856 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Vicus Capital grew its position in shares of Centene by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 3,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Centene by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,559,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its stake in Centene by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 3,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Centene by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 2,997 shares of the company’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CNC. TheStreet upgraded shares of Centene from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, September 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, September 14th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Centene from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 9th. StockNews.com started coverage on Centene in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Centene from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $79.00 to $72.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Centene presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.39.

Centene Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of CNC traded up $0.66 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $73.89. 226,331 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,460,157. Centene Co. has a 12 month low of $60.83 and a 12 month high of $87.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $39.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $69.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.37.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The company reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $38.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.20 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 1.63%. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.67 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. It operates in two segments, Managed Care and Specialty Services. The Managed Care segment offers health plan coverage to individuals through government subsidized programs, including Medicaid, the State children's health insurance program, long-term services and support, foster care, and medicare-medicaid plans, which cover dually eligible individuals, as well as aged, blind, or disabled programs.