Westpac Banking Corp Decreases Stake in Centene Corporation $CNC

Westpac Banking Corp cut its stake in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 40.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 41,251 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,608 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Centene were worth $1,351,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Centene by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,978,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,344,676,000 after buying an additional 190,334 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 117.0% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 31,798,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,308,518,000 after acquiring an additional 17,143,904 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,271,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $554,338,000 after acquiring an additional 697,277 shares during the period. Deerfield Management Company L.P. increased its stake in Centene by 184.0% in the 3rd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 9,046,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,761,000 after purchasing an additional 5,860,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Centene by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,002,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $370,456,000 after purchasing an additional 603,585 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on CNC shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $61.00 price target (up from $55.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Raymond James Financial set a $75.00 target price on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Centene from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.61.

Centene Stock Performance

Centene stock opened at $65.94 on Thursday. Centene Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $25.08 and a fifty-two week high of $69.36. The company has a market capitalization of $32.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.02, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $63.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $1.14. The business had revenue of $49.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.53 billion. Centene had a positive return on equity of 5.57% and a negative net margin of 3.25%.The business’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.90 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Centene Corporation will post 3.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Centene Profile

Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that specializes in providing services to government-sponsored and national health programs. The company primarily acts as a managed care organization, delivering healthcare coverage and administering benefits for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and individual marketplace plans. Centene also contracts with federal and state agencies to manage specialty care programs and community-based services for vulnerable populations.

Centene’s offerings extend beyond traditional insurance to include a range of specialty and support services.