Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB Boosts Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 67.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 195,482 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 78,500 shares during the quarter. Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB’s holdings in Centene were worth $11,842,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 75.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Centene during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Centene by 73.4% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co increased its stake in Centene by 172.7% during the 4th quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on CNC. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus lowered shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price objective (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com cut Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.92.

Centene Stock Performance

NYSE CNC opened at $62.13 on Friday. Centene Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.03 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59. The company has a market cap of $30.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $59.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.35.

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

Centene 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.