Van ECK Associates Corp Decreases Holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Van ECK Associates Corp lowered its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 27.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 60,323 shares of the company’s stock after selling 22,315 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Centene were worth $3,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 75.3% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 773 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the third quarter valued at $66,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Centene by 77.3% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Centene by 588.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 1,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Centene during the fourth quarter valued at about $82,000. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of CNC opened at $57.81 on Thursday. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $81.42. The company has a market capitalization of $29.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.45. 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.09.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other Centene news, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $58.86 per share, for a total transaction of $294,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 23,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,353,780. This trade represents a 27.78 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders bought 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CNC shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Stephens lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays raised their price target on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

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.