Marshall Wace LLP Sells 7,339 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Marshall Wace LLP lowered its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 503,250 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,339 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Centene were worth $30,487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Centene Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of CNC opened at $60.70 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $59.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $80.59. The stock has a market cap of $30.11 billion, a PE ratio of 9.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CNC. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Centene from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $53.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Guggenheim started coverage on Centene in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.69.

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.