Comerica Bank Has $5.91 Million Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Comerica Bank cut its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 97,565 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,577 shares during the period. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Centene were worth $5,910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Voleon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,656,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter valued at $6,173,000. 8 Knots Management LLC raised its holdings in Centene by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC now owns 2,000,256 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,176,000 after buying an additional 313,447 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $469,053,000 after buying an additional 2,319,952 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Centene by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,294,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,760,000 after acquiring an additional 443,121 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. Argus lowered Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.77.

Centene Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:CNC opened at $60.10 on Monday. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $55.03 and a 1 year high of $80.59. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $60.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.48. 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 has a market cap of $29.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.38. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The business had revenue of $46.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect 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.