Railway Pension Investments Ltd Sells 160,100 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Railway Pension Investments Ltd lessened its holdings in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 34.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 308,200 shares of the company’s stock after selling 160,100 shares during the quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd owned approximately 0.06% of Centene worth $20,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Centene by 109.9% in the second quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 6,290 shares of the company’s stock worth $423,000 after buying an additional 3,293 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Centene by 4.8% in the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 75,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,061,000 after purchasing an additional 3,410 shares during the period. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its position in Centene by 43.8% during the second quarter. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 65,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,428,000 after buying an additional 20,000 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Centene by 66.6% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 89,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,777,000 after buying an additional 35,685 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in Centene by 35.2% during the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 7,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $495,000 after acquiring an additional 1,913 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.92% of the company’s stock.

Centene Stock Performance

NYSE CNC traded up $0.02 on Tuesday, hitting $72.78. 166,802 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,443,980. Centene Co. has a 52-week low of $60.83 and a 52-week high of $87.84. The company has a market capitalization of $38.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.49. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $70.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.46. 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 (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The company reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $38.04 billion during 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%. Centene’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.30 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CNC. Bank of America raised Centene from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $79.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 5th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, July 31st. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Centene in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “strong-buy” rating for the company. TheStreet raised shares of Centene from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, September 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, September 14th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.39.

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.