Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Sells 1,530,056 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership decreased its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 21.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,619,941 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,530,056 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Centene were worth $340,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in shares of Centene by 75.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Centene during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Centene in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 73.4% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 172.7% in the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CNC. Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. One 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Centene presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.92.

Centene Stock Performance

Centene stock opened at $59.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $29.74 billion, a PE ratio of 9.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $59.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.73. Centene Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.03 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. The business 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share 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.