Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Acquires 38,732 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 33.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 155,366 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 38,732 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Centene were worth $9,412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CNC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 693.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,490,935 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 5.7% in the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,980,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,825 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 15.4% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,126,000 after purchasing an additional 428,100 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,082,000 after purchasing an additional 343,559 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the third quarter valued at approximately $19,464,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Centene news, Director H James Dallas bought 1,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $59.01 per share, for a total transaction of $99,903.93. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,903.93. The trade was a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Greco bought 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This trade represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC opened at $58.18 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $61.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.38. The company has a market capitalization of $28.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. Centene Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.03 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Argus lowered Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

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.