Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. Acquires 1,220 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,092 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,220 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd.’s holdings in Centene were worth $2,005,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter valued at $1,536,167,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $469,053,000 after buying an additional 2,319,952 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Centene by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $639,450,000 after acquiring an additional 1,884,358 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Centene by 91.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,770,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $228,414,000 after acquiring an additional 1,802,265 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Centene by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,469,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,854,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578,917 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on 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 decreased their price objective on Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Argus downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $93.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.77.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $59.56 on Thursday. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $55.03 and a 1 year high of $80.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.48. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.47.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $46.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.26 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.