Arizona State Retirement System Grows Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 155,060 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,762 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Centene were worth $10,280,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Centene by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $765,000 after acquiring an additional 1,204 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Centene by 82.1% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 3,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 1,803 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Centene during the fourth quarter valued at $585,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Centene during the fourth quarter worth about $127,000. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co increased its stake in Centene by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 1,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Baird R W raised shares of Centene to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $98.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $83.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $78.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Centene from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.75.

Centene Price Performance

Centene stock opened at $70.83 on Friday. Centene Co. has a 52-week low of $63.45 and a 52-week high of $81.42. The company has a market cap of $37.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.08, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $72.89 and its 200 day moving average is $73.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $39.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.83 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.10 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Centene 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.