Savant Capital LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Centene Corporation $CNC

Savant Capital LLC lessened its stake in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 54.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 83,473 shares of the company’s stock after selling 98,952 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $4,531,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Centene by 42.7% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,049,494 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,820,000 after acquiring an additional 3,306,796 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the 1st quarter valued at about $146,557,000. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Centene by 155.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,901,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,802,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373,280 shares during the period. 8 Knots Management LLC grew its stake in Centene by 52.5% during the 1st quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC now owns 3,050,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,220,000 after buying an additional 1,050,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focused Investors LLC increased its position in Centene by 588.1% during the first quarter. Focused Investors LLC now owns 1,042,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,284,000 after buying an additional 890,900 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNC has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Centene from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Centene from $25.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho raised their price target on Centene from $28.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Centene from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.82.

Centene Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Centene stock opened at $37.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $18.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.49. Centene Corporation has a 52-week low of $25.08 and a 52-week high of $66.81. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.71. The company had revenue of $49.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.50 billion. Centene had a positive return on equity of 7.82% and a negative net margin of 2.85%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share 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.