Wright Investors Service Inc. Sells 260 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Wright Investors Service Inc. reduced its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,757 shares of the company’s stock after selling 260 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Centene were worth $960,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CNC. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 1.0% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 41.4% during the second quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 468 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Centene by 10.0% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Centene by 5.0% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Centene by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 4,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Centene from $92.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. StockNews.com raised Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Centene from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Centene from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Centene has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.58.

Centene Price Performance

CNC traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $72.08. The stock had a trading volume of 4,578,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,559,960. The company has a market cap of $38.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.48. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $63.45 and a 1 year high of $81.42. The business has a fifty day moving average of $75.80 and a 200 day moving average of $73.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.02). Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The business had revenue of $39.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.83 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.10 earnings per share. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.8 earnings per share 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.