Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Sells 1,530,056 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership trimmed its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 21.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,619,941 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,530,056 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 1.11% of Centene worth $340,456,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CNC. MV Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Centene by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 31,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,932,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Allianz SE bought a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter worth $190,000. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of Centene by 40.6% in the fourth quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 26,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,630,000 after acquiring an additional 7,769 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp purchased a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter worth about $951,000. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in Centene in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Stephens lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Centene has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

Centene Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:CNC opened at $59.96 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. 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 fifty day moving average price of $59.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.73. Centene Co. has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast 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.