Fmr LLC Has $1.30 Billion Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Fmr LLC decreased its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 12.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,429,162 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,141,348 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC owned 4.24% of Centene worth $1,298,179,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Centene by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 221,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,398,000 after purchasing an additional 10,515 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd raised its stake in Centene by 68.4% during the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,189,000 after acquiring an additional 14,671 shares in the last quarter. Polianta Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 41.7% in the 4th quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 22,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 27.3% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Centene by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Washington Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after purchasing an additional 5,550 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group raised Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays upped their price objective on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Argus lowered shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNC opened at $62.13 on Monday. Centene Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.03 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.96, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The business has a 50-day moving average of $59.72 and a 200-day moving average of $62.16.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.