Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Reduces Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 308,093 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,063 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Centene were worth $18,664,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter worth approximately $552,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 4,390.8% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 687,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,668,000 after acquiring an additional 672,498 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter valued at $427,000. Kennondale Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter valued at $495,000. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 80,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,884,000 after acquiring an additional 8,787 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on CNC. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

Centene Stock Performance

NYSE:CNC opened at $58.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average of $60.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a PE ratio of 9.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. Centene Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.03 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.