Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Sold by CENTRAL TRUST Co

CENTRAL TRUST Co lowered its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,491 shares of the company’s stock after selling 655 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Centene were worth $454,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Centene by 2.1% in the third quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $608,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Centene by 6.2% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its holdings in Centene by 7.3% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV lifted its holdings in Centene by 5.5% in the third quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 5,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAM Holding AG raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 0.3% during the third quarter. GAM Holding AG now owns 88,973 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,698,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial cut 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. UBS Group raised Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.31.

Centene Trading Down 5.3 %

NYSE CNC opened at $61.36 on Wednesday. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $81.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market cap of $30.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.65, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.14.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 1.90% and a return on equity of 13.32%. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.82 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Centene news, CEO Sarah London acquired 4,117 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $60.80 per share, with a total value of $250,313.60. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 667,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,567,523.20. This trade represents a 0.62 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Greco acquired 17,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 purchase, 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 45,010 shares of company stock worth $2,660,276 in the last ninety days. Corporate 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.