Barden Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Barden Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 3.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,215 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Barden Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Centene were worth $742,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth $1,536,167,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Centene by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $639,450,000 after acquiring an additional 1,884,358 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Centene by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $469,053,000 after acquiring an additional 2,319,952 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Centene by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,469,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,854,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578,917 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Centene by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,294,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,760,000 after acquiring an additional 443,121 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE CNC opened at $55.16 on Friday. Centene Co. has a 12 month low of $54.01 and a 12 month high of $80.59. 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 company has a market capitalization of $27.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $59.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.09.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $46.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CNC shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective (down previously from $84.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.31.

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.