National Bank of Canada FI Reduces Holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

National Bank of Canada FI cut its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 59.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 277,763 shares of the company’s stock after selling 402,316 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned 0.06% of Centene worth $16,830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its position in Centene by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in shares of Centene by 75.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in Centene by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 956 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Centene by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. Finally, Intellectus Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Centene by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Argus downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Stephens dropped their price target on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

Centene Stock Up 6.0 %

NYSE:CNC opened at $64.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $31.93 billion, a PE ratio of 10.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50-day moving average of $59.77 and a 200 day moving average of $62.45. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $80.59.

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

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.