South Dakota Investment Council Has $19.05 Million Stock Holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

South Dakota Investment Council increased its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 314,399 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,100 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council owned 0.06% of Centene worth $19,046,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position 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 valued at $103,346,000 after acquiring an additional 1,490,935 shares in the last quarter. Harris Associates L P lifted its position in Centene by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $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 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 lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 343,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $19,464,000. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on CNC shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group raised shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. 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. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.92.

Centene Stock Down 1.3 %

Centene stock opened at $57.72 on Friday. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $81.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.78.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $58.86 per share, with a total value of $294,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,353,780. This represents a 27.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Greco bought 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Centene Company 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.