Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Position Trimmed by Ledyard National Bank

Ledyard National Bank cut its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,120 shares of the company’s stock after selling 183 shares during the quarter. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Centene were worth $250,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Centene by 693.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,490,935 shares in the last quarter. Harris Associates L P increased its position in shares of Centene by 5.7% in the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,980,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,825 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Centene by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,126,000 after acquiring an additional 428,100 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in Centene by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,082,000 after purchasing an additional 343,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Centene during the 3rd quarter valued at $236,940,000. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Centene Stock Up 0.5 %

CNC opened at $58.95 on Friday. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $81.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $61.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.00. The firm has a market cap of $29.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.45.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.90% and a return on equity of 13.32%. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.82 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on CNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Centene from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Argus downgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stephens decreased their target price on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II purchased 5,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $58.86 per share, with a total value of $294,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,353,780. This trade represents a 27.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director H James Dallas acquired 1,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $59.01 per share, for a total transaction of $99,903.93. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 1,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99,903.93. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 40,893 shares of company stock valued at $2,409,962. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.