Oxbow Advisors LLC Increases Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Oxbow Advisors LLC lifted its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 65,047 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the period. Oxbow Advisors LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $3,941,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in shares of Centene by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Centene by 6.2% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV boosted its position in shares of Centene by 5.5% during the third quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 5,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its position in shares of Centene by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Argus lowered shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In related news, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the purchase, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director H James Dallas purchased 1,693 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $59.01 per share, for a total transaction of $99,903.93. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,693 shares in the company, 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. In the last quarter, insiders bought 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Centene Price Performance

Centene stock opened at $57.72 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $61.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.63 billion, a PE ratio of 9.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Centene Co. has a 12-month low of $55.03 and a 12-month high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released 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 firm had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The business’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 7.01 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.