Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 16.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,278 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,607 shares during the quarter. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $549,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CNC. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in Centene by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,196,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,319,000 after purchasing an additional 41,209 shares in the last quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 29.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 33,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after buying an additional 7,667 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in Centene by 23.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 3,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Centene by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Finally, WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its position in Centene by 41.4% in the second quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNC opened at $73.26 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.91. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $61.31 and a twelve month high of $81.42. The company has a market capitalization of $39.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.02). Centene had a return on equity of 14.45% and a net margin of 1.79%. The business had revenue of $39.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.83 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Centene from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $78.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $83.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.77.

About Centene

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.