Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Purchased by Veritable L.P.

Veritable L.P. increased its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,942 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. Veritable L.P.’s holdings in Centene were worth $738,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its position in shares of Centene by 1,401.4% in the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 46,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,901,000 after purchasing an additional 43,247 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 9,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $841,000 after acquiring an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 104.7% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 43,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,684,000 after acquiring an additional 22,382 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 37,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,149,000 after acquiring an additional 3,414 shares during the last quarter. 90.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Centene Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Centene stock opened at $72.60 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $69.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.43. The company has a market cap of $38.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $60.83 and a 1 year high of $87.84.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 24th. The company reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.45. The firm had revenue of $38.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.20 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 1.63%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.30 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on CNC shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded Centene from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $94.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 30th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Centene from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 9th. StockNews.com began coverage on Centene in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Centene from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, September 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.39.

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.