Teza Capital Management LLC Sells 10,184 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Teza Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 26.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 28,429 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,184 shares during the quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $1,722,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 53.0% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its stake in Centene by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 4,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the period. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,346,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in Centene by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 471,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,571,000 after acquiring an additional 55,475 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $759,000. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CNC. Argus cut shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $93.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.77.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC stock opened at $61.78 on Friday. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $55.03 and a 1 year high of $80.59. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $60.66 and its 200-day moving average is $60.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.90, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.48. 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 (NYSE:CNC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.38. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company had revenue of $46.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.26 earnings per share. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.