First Bank & Trust Decreases Stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

First Bank & Trust reduced its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,538 shares of the company’s stock after selling 197 shares during the period. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Centene were worth $214,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Harris Associates L P increased its stake in shares of Centene by 5.7% during the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,980,932,000 after buying an additional 1,420,825 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Centene by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,468,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $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 increased its stake in shares of Centene by 3.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,768,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $434,255,000 after buying an additional 194,566 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 15.4% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,126,000 after buying an additional 428,100 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Centene by 693.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,346,000 after buying an additional 1,490,935 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CNC shares. StockNews.com cut Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lifted their price target on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Argus lowered Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price target (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.92.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other Centene news, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,153,712.75. This trade represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director H James Dallas purchased 1,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $59.01 per share, with a total value of $99,903.93. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,903.93. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Centene Trading Up 1.5 %

Centene stock opened at $58.50 on Friday. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.03. Centene Co. has a 12 month low of $55.03 and a 12 month high of $81.42. The company has a market capitalization of $29.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.45.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 7.01 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.