Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Holdings Trimmed by Shelton Capital Management

Shelton Capital Management lowered its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 70.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 41,892 shares of the company’s stock after selling 101,700 shares during the period. Shelton Capital Management’s holdings in Centene were worth $2,826,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CNC. Cibc World Market Inc. boosted 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 during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 657 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 22,382 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene in the 1st quarter valued at $203,000. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 3,414 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on CNC. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research report on Monday, July 31st. 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 research note on Monday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Centene from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 26th. Stephens cut their price target on Centene from $87.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America raised Centene from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.39.

Centene Stock Performance

CNC opened at $72.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $69.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Centene Co. has a 12-month low of $60.83 and a 12-month high of $87.84.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The company reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.45. Centene had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 1.63%. The firm had revenue of $38.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current 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. 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.