Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Sold by Summit Trail Advisors LLC

Summit Trail Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 208 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $341,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 8.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,788,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $605,351,000 after acquiring an additional 704,684 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Centene by 7.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,023,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $414,918,000 after acquiring an additional 408,525 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Centene by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,288,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $364,253,000 after acquiring an additional 187,958 shares in the last quarter. Harris Associates L P acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the 3rd quarter valued at about $274,274,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 3.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,547,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,365,000 after purchasing an additional 102,480 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Centene news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total value of $774,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $886,731.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on CNC. StockNews.com upgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Centene from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Centene from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.23.

Centene Stock Up 1.0 %

Centene stock opened at $75.90 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $60.83 and a 1-year high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $40.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.43 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 14.19%. The business’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.11 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.