Kintegral Advisory LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Kintegral Advisory LLC cut its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,820 shares of the company’s stock after selling 551 shares during the quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $716,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CNC. Oxbow Advisors LLC raised its position in Centene by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC now owns 65,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,941,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Centene by 143.2% in the fourth quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 30,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,831,000 after acquiring an additional 17,798 shares during the period. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Centene during the 4th quarter worth about $1,272,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Centene by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 141,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,598,000 after purchasing an additional 3,340 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE CNC opened at $57.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $28.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 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 $81.42. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.78.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director H James Dallas bought 1,693 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $59.01 per share, for a total transaction of $99,903.93. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99,903.93. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.