Capital World Investors Sells 5,061,954 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Capital World Investors lowered its holdings in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 22.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,504,247 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,061,954 shares during the quarter. Capital World Investors’ holdings in Centene were worth $1,060,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in Centene by 75.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Centene during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Centene by 73.4% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CNC. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Centene from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.69.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $60.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. 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 52 week low of $55.03 and a 52 week high of $80.59. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.77 and a 200 day moving average of $61.31.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company’s revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share 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.