Summit Trail Advisors LLC Has $257,000 Stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Summit Trail Advisors LLC cut its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 15.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,248 shares of the company’s stock after selling 806 shares during the quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in Centene during the fourth quarter worth $3,708,000. Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 38.4% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 26,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,577,000 after buying an additional 7,229 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Centene by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 279,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,949,000 after buying an additional 41,327 shares during the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,699,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in Centene by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 3,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,000 after acquiring an additional 697 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Centene

In related news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $58.86 per share, with a total value of $294,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,353,780. The trade was a 27.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director H James Dallas purchased 1,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $59.01 per share, with a total value of $99,903.93. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 1,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,903.93. This represents a ? increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNC has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price target (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Argus lowered Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.31.

Centene Stock Down 1.6 %

Centene stock opened at $56.45 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $61.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.80. 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 52-week low of $55.03 and a 52-week high of $81.42. The firm has a market cap of $28.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.05, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.45.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. Centene’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.97 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.