Invesco Ltd. Acquires 1,884,358 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 21.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,555,456 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,884,358 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Centene were worth $639,450,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in Centene by 75.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Centene by 73.4% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Centene Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $61.27 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $59.63 and its 200-day moving average is $62.06. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $55.03 and a 1 year high of $80.59. The company has a market capitalization of $30.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. 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 quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CNC shares. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.92.

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. 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.