Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Makes New $982,000 Investment in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 16,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $982,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pitcairn Co. lifted its holdings in Centene by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 9,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $569,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Centene by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 230,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,941,000 after acquiring an additional 77,865 shares during the last quarter. Westpac Banking Corp increased its position in Centene by 53.5% in the fourth quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 41,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,531,000 after purchasing an additional 14,560 shares during the period. Cinctive Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Centene by 46.7% during the 4th quarter. Cinctive Capital Management LP now owns 51,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,148,000 after purchasing an additional 16,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bryce Point Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,140,000. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Centene Stock Down 3.4 %

NYSE:CNC opened at $62.13 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.26. Centene Co. has a 52-week low of $55.03 and a 52-week high of $80.59. The company has a market cap of $30.82 billion, a PE ratio of 9.96, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly 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 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CNC shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com lowered Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price objective (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.