California Public Employees Retirement System Has $109.42 Million Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,806,185 shares of the company’s stock after selling 118,830 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Centene were worth $109,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its stake in shares of Centene by 4.1% during the 4th 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. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in Centene by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Centene by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intellectus Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Trading Up 1.2 %

Centene stock opened at $60.78 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 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 $80.59. The stock has a market cap of $30.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued 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. 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%. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays increased their price objective on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Argus cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

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.