Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Sold by EntryPoint Capital LLC

EntryPoint Capital LLC cut its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 9.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,708 shares of the company’s stock after selling 570 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $346,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 75.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of Centene by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Finally, Intellectus Partners LLC grew its stake in Centene by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com cut Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

Centene Stock Up 2.8 %

NYSE:CNC opened at $60.58 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.05 billion, a PE ratio of 9.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. Centene Co. has a 52 week low of $55.03 and a 52 week high of $80.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.04 and a 200-day moving average of $62.88.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS 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.