Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Reduces Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. reduced its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 308,093 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,063 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.06% of Centene worth $18,664,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CNC. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Centene by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 74,998 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,645,000 after buying an additional 6,337 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 11,959 shares of the company’s stock worth $900,000 after acquiring an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,566,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 73,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,512,000 after acquiring an additional 2,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the 3rd quarter worth about $227,000. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Centene Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:CNC opened at $58.88 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. Centene Co. has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year high of $80.59. The firm has a market cap of $29.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CNC shares. Stephens lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Argus lowered shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

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.