Farther Finance Advisors LLC Sells 1,613 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC lowered its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 25.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,787 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,613 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Harris Associates L P lifted its position in shares of Centene by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,980,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,825 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Centene by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,468,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,766,683,000 after buying an additional 111,654 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Centene by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,768,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $434,255,000 after buying an additional 194,566 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,803,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,412,000 after buying an additional 130,895 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Centene by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,126,000 after buying an additional 428,100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:CNC opened at $59.61 on Wednesday. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $55.03 and a 1 year high of $80.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $29.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.55, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $60.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.46.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on CNC. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 target price (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays raised their target price on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Stephens cut their price objective on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

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.