OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Takes Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 9,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $552,000.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Argus cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price objective (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group raised 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 research report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.92.

Centene Stock Up 0.7 %

Centene stock opened at $59.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $80.59. The company has a market cap of $29.58 billion, a PE ratio of 9.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $60.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.41.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. Centene’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal 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.