Quest Partners LLC Buys Shares of 5,962 Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 5,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $442,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,325,441,000. Harris Associates L P acquired a new stake in Centene in the 3rd quarter valued at $274,274,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Centene by 535.9% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,837,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,396,000 after buying an additional 1,548,961 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP boosted its stake in Centene by 375.1% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 1,943,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,263,000 after buying an additional 1,534,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Centene by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,788,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $605,351,000 after buying an additional 704,684 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, April 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective (down previously from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Centene from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.23.

Centene Trading Down 3.5 %

NYSE CNC traded down $2.70 on Friday, reaching $74.63. The company had a trading volume of 4,019,964 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,595,321. Centene Co. has a 52 week low of $60.83 and a 52 week high of $81.42. 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 stock has a market cap of $39.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.84, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $75.47 and its 200-day moving average is $75.60.

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

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other Centene news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total value of $620,960.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 300,357 shares in the company, valued at $23,313,710.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total transaction of $620,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 300,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,313,710.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total value of $67,386.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,957,432. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.