Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Sold by Kintegral Advisory LLC

Kintegral Advisory LLC decreased its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,820 shares of the company’s stock after selling 551 shares during the quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $716,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CNC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Centene by 693.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,346,000 after buying an additional 1,490,935 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P raised its position in Centene by 5.7% during the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,980,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,825 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Centene by 15.4% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,126,000 after purchasing an additional 428,100 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Centene by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,082,000 after purchasing an additional 343,559 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the 3rd quarter worth about $19,464,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas Greco acquired 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $58.86 per share, with a total value of $294,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,353,780. This trade represents a 27.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Centene Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE CNC opened at $57.72 on Friday. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $55.03 and a 1 year high of $81.42. The company has a market capitalization of $28.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays raised their price objective on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.92.

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. The company operates through Medicaid, Medicare, Commercial, and Other segments. The Medicaid segment offers health plan coverage, including medicaid expansion, aged, blind, disabled, children’s health insurance program, foster care, medicare-medicaid plans, long-term services and support.