Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Bought by Zions Bancorporation N.A.

Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 39.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,251 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 921 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings in Centene were worth $197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Centene by 80.6% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 2,080,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,056,000 after buying an additional 928,465 shares in the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Centene by 66.3% in the 4th quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 9,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $574,000 after purchasing an additional 3,776 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in Centene by 85.6% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 216,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,142,000 after purchasing an additional 100,039 shares in the last quarter. English Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Centene by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. English Capital Management LLC now owns 64,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,924,000 after purchasing an additional 12,126 shares during the period. Finally, Focused Investors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth $9,178,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on CNC. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Argus downgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

Centene Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of CNC stock opened at $60.58 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.88. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month 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. The company has a market capitalization of $30.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.71, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Centene Company 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.