Signaturefd LLC Has $414,000 Position in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC)

Signaturefd LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 17.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,816 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,420 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $414,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Independent Advisor Alliance bought a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter worth about $204,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 32.9% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 16,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $997,000 after acquiring an additional 4,077 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its stake in Centene by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 80,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,884,000 after purchasing an additional 8,787 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new position in Centene in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $427,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter worth $552,000. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on shares of Centene from $90.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Bank of America downgraded shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $52.00 to $30.00 in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 target price (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Centene and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Centene presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.63.

Centene Stock Performance

CNC stock opened at $29.12 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $50.73 and its 200-day moving average is $57.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $14.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.44. Centene Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.92 and a twelve month high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.38. Centene had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 2.04%. The business had revenue of $46.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.26 earnings per share. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 EPS for the current 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.