Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 212,377 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Hsbc Holdings PLC decreased its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 12.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,482,640 shares of the company’s stock after selling 212,377 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.29% of Centene worth $89,802,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Centene by 148.9% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 36,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,225,000 after acquiring an additional 21,967 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Centene by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,384,000 after purchasing an additional 3,760 shares in the last quarter. Norinchukin Bank The grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 24,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,489,000 after buying an additional 2,069 shares during the period. Ossiam increased its position in shares of Centene by 95.2% in the 4th quarter. Ossiam now owns 22,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,350,000 after buying an additional 10,871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in Centene by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 9,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $550,000 after acquiring an additional 951 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Argus downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.69.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC opened at $62.11 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $30.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.13. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted 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 business 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%. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share 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.