Edgestream Partners L.P. Has $883,000 Holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 136.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,313 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,677 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in Centene were worth $883,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Centene during the 1st quarter worth approximately $914,080,000. Harris Associates L P raised its position in Centene by 172.8% during the fourth quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 10,863,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $806,170,000 after buying an additional 6,881,450 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Centene by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,652,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $678,033,000 after acquiring an additional 32,427 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Centene by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,491,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $364,117,000 after acquiring an additional 25,595 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in Centene by 60.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,216,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $409,390,000 after acquiring an additional 1,959,460 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on CNC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective 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. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $78.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com raised Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Baird R W raised Centene to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research note on Friday. Seven equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.58.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of Centene stock opened at $75.61 on Friday. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $63.45 and a 1-year high of $81.42. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.03, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.48.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.02). Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The firm had revenue of $39.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.82 earnings per share 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.