Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Lowers Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 97.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,141 shares of the company’s stock after selling 338,073 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $473,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,325,441,000. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the 1st quarter valued at $914,080,000. Harris Associates L P lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 172.8% during the 4th quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 10,863,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $806,170,000 after buying an additional 6,881,450 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Centene by 60.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,216,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $409,390,000 after buying an additional 1,959,460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Centene by 75.4% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 898,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,710,000 after acquiring an additional 386,379 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Baird R W raised Centene to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays cut 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, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $83.00 to $69.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $83.00 price objective for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.58.

Centene Price Performance

NYSE:CNC opened at $75.35 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.61. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $63.45 and a 1 year high of $81.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.98, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.02). Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The firm had revenue of $39.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.82 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.