Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Bought by Bank of Montreal Can

Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 4.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 914,751 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 36,973 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned approximately 0.17% of Centene worth $62,011,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pinebridge Investments L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 52.4% in the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 327,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,298,000 after purchasing an additional 112,605 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Centene by 18.7% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 624,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,046,000 after buying an additional 98,298 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in Centene by 435.0% during the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 20,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,574,000 after buying an additional 16,304 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Centene by 35.8% during the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 28,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,857,000 after buying an additional 7,385 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 189.6% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 24,162 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,895,000 after buying an additional 15,819 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CNC. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Centene from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Barclays lowered their price target on Centene from $98.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Baird R W raised Centene to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.58.

Centene Price Performance

Centene stock opened at $74.13 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.40. Centene Co. has a 12 month low of $63.45 and a 12 month high of $81.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.56 billion, a PE ratio of 14.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.48.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $39.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.83 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.8 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.