Great Lakes Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 76.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,580 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,273 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Centene by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 221,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,398,000 after acquiring an additional 10,515 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd lifted its stake in Centene by 68.4% in the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,189,000 after purchasing an additional 14,671 shares during the last quarter. Polianta Ltd increased its position in Centene by 41.7% in the fourth quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 22,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,338,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Centene by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,082,000 after buying an additional 343,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Centene by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Washington Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 5,550 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of Centene stock opened at $58.27 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $60.60 and a 200-day moving average of $63.73. Centene Co. has a 52-week low of $55.03 and a 52-week high of $80.59. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.