LPL Financial LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 85.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 216,928 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 100,039 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $13,142,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CNC. State Street Corp raised its stake in Centene by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,468,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,766,683,000 after purchasing an additional 111,654 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Centene by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,803,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,412,000 after buying an additional 130,895 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 77.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,786,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,040,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214,425 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Centene by 693.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,346,000 after acquiring an additional 1,490,935 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Centene by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,657,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,394,000 after purchasing an additional 98,509 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Price Performance

CNC opened at $60.69 on Thursday. Centene Co. has a 12-month low of $55.03 and a 12-month high of $80.59. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.44. The company has a market capitalization of $30.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.73, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stephens dropped their target price on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.