Bank of New York Mellon Corp Reduces Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp decreased its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 15.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,545,349 shares of the company’s stock after selling 799,910 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Centene were worth $275,357,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 221,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,398,000 after buying an additional 10,515 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd increased its position in Centene by 68.4% during the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,189,000 after acquiring an additional 14,671 shares during the last quarter. Polianta Ltd boosted its position in Centene by 41.7% in the fourth quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 22,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Centene by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 683,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,478,000 after purchasing an additional 99,904 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,082,000 after purchasing an additional 343,559 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other Centene news, Director H James Dallas purchased 1,693 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $59.01 per share, for a total transaction of $99,903.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,903.93. This trade represents a ? increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $58.86 per share, with a total value of $294,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,353,780. The trade was a 27.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Centene Trading Down 7.3 %

CNC stock opened at $56.83 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.11, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $80.67. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.43.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Argus lowered shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Stephens lowered their target price on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Centene currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

Centene Company 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.