New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 291,616 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,738 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Centene were worth $17,666,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Centene by 2.4% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 248,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,744,000 after buying an additional 5,897 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Centene by 7.0% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $779,000 after buying an additional 673 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Centene by 4.7% in the third quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 118,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,892,000 after buying an additional 5,258 shares in the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Centene by 2.1% in the third quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $608,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Centene by 5.5% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 5,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,000 after buying an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas Greco acquired 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director H James Dallas acquired 1,693 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was bought at an average price of $59.01 per share, with a total value of $99,903.93. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 1,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99,903.93. This trade represents a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954 over the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Argus cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

Centene Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE CNC opened at $57.72 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $28.63 billion, a PE ratio of 9.25, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $55.03 and a 1 year high of $81.42. The business’s 50-day moving average is $61.03 and its 200 day moving average is $65.84.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its 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. The company 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%. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share 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.