M&T Bank Corp Decreases Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

M&T Bank Corp lowered its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,604 shares of the company’s stock after selling 393 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Centene were worth $2,123,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Running Oak Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Centene by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 105,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,859,000 after buying an additional 18,626 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments boosted its position in shares of Centene by 54.1% in the 4th quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 8,353 shares of the company’s stock valued at $620,000 after purchasing an additional 2,931 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its stake in Centene by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 381,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,310,000 after buying an additional 29,126 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 458,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,008,000 after acquiring an additional 32,250 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Centene from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $85.00 target price (down previously from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Centene from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.23.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of CNC opened at $75.86 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a 50-day moving average of $75.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.95. Centene Co. has a 12-month low of $60.83 and a 12-month high of $81.42. The stock has a market cap of $40.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.08, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.41.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $40.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.43 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 14.19% and a net margin of 1.76%. Centene’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.11 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Centene news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total value of $774,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $886,731.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Centene Company 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.