Korea Investment CORP Sells 102,568 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Korea Investment CORP lessened its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 24.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 315,039 shares of the company’s stock after selling 102,568 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Centene were worth $19,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in Centene by 75.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Centene during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Centene by 73.4% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co grew its stake in Centene by 172.7% during the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 758 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on CNC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Argus cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group raised shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.92.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of Centene stock opened at $59.96 on Friday. Centene Co. has a 52 week low of $55.03 and a 52 week high of $80.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.61, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $59.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.73.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

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.