Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Stake Increased by Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,338 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Centene were worth $916,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the third quarter worth $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the third quarter worth $26,000. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the third quarter worth $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Centene news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $774,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $886,731.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Centene news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $774,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $886,731.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $900,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 235,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,668,850.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Centene Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $74.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $39.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $76.32 and its 200-day moving average is $74.77. Centene Co. has a 52-week low of $60.83 and a 52-week high of $81.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.06. Centene had a return on equity of 14.26% and a net margin of 1.75%. The company had revenue of $40.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.43 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.11 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CNC. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com lowered Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 target price (down from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on Centene in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $101.00 target price on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.25.

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.