Bank of Montreal Can Sells 507,704 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Bank of Montreal Can reduced its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 50.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 494,381 shares of the company’s stock after selling 507,704 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 0.10% of Centene worth $29,950,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,536,167,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Centene by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,803,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,412,000 after buying an additional 130,895 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its holdings in Centene by 77.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,786,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,040,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214,425 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in Centene by 80.6% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 2,080,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,056,000 after acquiring an additional 928,465 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Centene by 693.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,490,935 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CNC shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.85.

Centene Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE CNC opened at $62.46 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $30.98 billion, a PE ratio of 10.01, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. Centene Co. has a 12 month low of $55.03 and a 12 month high of $80.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $59.44 and a 200-day moving average of $61.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal 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.