Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Holdings Increased by CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 521,490 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,435 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in Centene were worth $31,574,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Centene during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,536,167,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Centene by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $639,450,000 after buying an additional 1,884,358 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,803,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,412,000 after purchasing an additional 130,895 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Centene by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,279,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,668,000 after buying an additional 480,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,214,425 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Centene in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of 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 note on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Argus cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.69.

Centene Trading Down 2.1 %

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

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 return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. Centene’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current 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.