Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Acquired by Diversified Trust Co

Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 30.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,624 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,828 shares during the quarter. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in Centene were worth $1,619,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pinebridge Investments L.P. raised its position in Centene by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 327,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,298,000 after acquiring an additional 112,605 shares in the last quarter. QV Investors Inc. boosted its holdings in Centene by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 305,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,655,000 after buying an additional 33,350 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its position in Centene by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,215,997 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,239,000 after buying an additional 231,931 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 947,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,320,000 after buying an additional 51,878 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Preferred LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter valued at $2,349,000. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CNC. Barclays boosted their target price on Centene from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Centene in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $83.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Centene from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.93.

Centene Stock Performance

CNC stock traded down $0.40 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $65.90. 1,035,521 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,358,735. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.50. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $60.83 and a twelve month high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.17. Centene had a return on equity of 14.19% and a net margin of 1.76%. The company had revenue of $40.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.43 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.11 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In related news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total transaction of $620,960.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 300,357 shares in the company, valued at $23,313,710.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total transaction of $620,960.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 300,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,313,710.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total transaction of $67,386.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,957,432. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Centene Company 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.