Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Sold by SouthState Corp

SouthState Corp cut its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 29.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 29,209 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,067 shares during the period. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Centene were worth $1,769,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Centene by 193.1% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,640 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 2,398 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp purchased a new position in Centene during the third quarter worth approximately $211,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Centene during the third quarter worth approximately $210,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Centene by 6.2% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in Centene by 2.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 21,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,598,000 after buying an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on CNC. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Argus downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Centene news, Director Thomas Greco acquired 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at $1,153,712.75. The trade was a 736.25 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Centene Trading Up 0.5 %

CNC opened at $58.27 on Monday. Centene Co. has a 12 month low of $55.03 and a 12 month high of $80.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.34, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $60.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.73.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. Centene’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. 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.