Eversept Partners LP Grows Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Eversept Partners LP raised its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 39.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 188,493 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 53,534 shares during the period. Centene makes up about 1.0% of Eversept Partners LP’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Eversept Partners LP’s holdings in Centene were worth $11,419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CNC. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its stake in shares of Centene by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in Centene by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 956 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intellectus Partners LLC boosted its stake in Centene by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on CNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Centene from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $64.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Argus cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.69.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of CNC opened at $57.97 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $59.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.13. The company has a market capitalization of $28.76 billion, a PE ratio of 9.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. Centene Co. has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share 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.