Greenleaf Trust Reduces Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Greenleaf Trust lowered its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 36.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,834 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,720 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Centene were worth $293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CNC. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Centene by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 221,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,398,000 after buying an additional 10,515 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd increased its holdings in Centene by 68.4% during the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,189,000 after acquiring an additional 14,671 shares in the last quarter. Polianta Ltd raised its position in Centene by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 22,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Centene by 17.1% in the third quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 683,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,478,000 after purchasing an additional 99,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 343,559 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Centene from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.31.

Centene Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of CNC opened at $60.82 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.10. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $81.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.45.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.32% and a net margin of 1.90%. The company’s revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In related news, Director H James Dallas bought 1,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $59.01 per share, for a total transaction of $99,903.93. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 1,693 shares in the company, valued at $99,903.93. This represents a ? increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher purchased 17,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $58.14 per share, with a total value of $1,000,008.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 486,847 shares in the company, valued at $28,305,284.58. This trade represents a 3.66 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 45,010 shares of company stock valued at $2,660,276 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.