Ledyard National Bank Sells 583 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Ledyard National Bank lessened its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 11.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,303 shares of the company’s stock after selling 583 shares during the period. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Centene were worth $324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the 1st quarter worth about $914,080,000. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 60.2% during 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 during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 22.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,461,517 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,799,000 after buying an additional 832,318 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 14.2% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,113,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $339,042,000 after buying an additional 636,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 42.3% during the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 1,400,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,838,000 after buying an additional 416,003 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Centene from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Centene from $93.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 13th. Barclays reduced their price target on Centene from $98.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Centene from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.58.

Centene Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE CNC opened at $61.07 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $60.65 and a 1-year high of $81.42. The company has a 50 day moving average of $73.84 and a 200-day moving average of $72.53. The company has a market cap of $32.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.14, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.48.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $39.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.10 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.8 earnings per share 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.