St. Louis Trust Co Sells 11,074 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

St. Louis Trust Co reduced its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 25.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,220 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,074 shares during the quarter. St. Louis Trust Co’s holdings in Centene were worth $2,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in Centene by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in Centene by 75.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in Centene by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Centene by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. Finally, Intellectus Partners LLC raised its holdings in Centene by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Centene Trading Down 1.4 %

CNC opened at $58.61 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $29.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. Centene Co. has a 12 month low of $55.03 and a 12 month high of $80.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $60.76 and a 200 day moving average of $64.15.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on CNC shares. Argus cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price target (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Centene

In other Centene news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $58.86 per share, for a total transaction of $294,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,353,780. This represents a 27.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director H James Dallas purchased 1,693 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $59.01 per share, with a total value of $99,903.93. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 1,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99,903.93. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.