Skopos Labs Inc. Takes $284,000 Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Skopos Labs Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Operose Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Centene during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Headinvest LLC acquired a new stake in Centene during the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in Centene during the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Centene from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Six 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.23.

Centene Price Performance

NYSE CNC traded down $2.70 during trading on Friday, reaching $74.63. 4,019,964 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,595,321. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $75.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.63. The company has a market cap of $39.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.41. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $60.83 and a 1-year high of $81.42.

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

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.