CENTRAL TRUST Co Sells 655 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

CENTRAL TRUST Co lowered its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,491 shares of the company’s stock after selling 655 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Centene were worth $454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Centene by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 221,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,398,000 after buying an additional 10,515 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in shares of Centene by 68.4% during the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,189,000 after purchasing an additional 14,671 shares in the last quarter. Polianta Ltd lifted its position in shares of Centene by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 22,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Centene by 17.1% during the third quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 683,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,478,000 after purchasing an additional 99,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Centene by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,082,000 after buying an additional 343,559 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of Centene stock opened at $61.36 on Wednesday. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $81.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.45.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 1.90% and a return on equity of 13.32%. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.82 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on CNC. Stephens cut their target price on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Centene from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Centene

In other Centene news, CEO Sarah London bought 4,117 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $60.80 per share, with a total value of $250,313.60. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 667,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,567,523.20. The trade was a 0.62 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew Lynn Asher bought 17,200 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $58.14 per share, for a total transaction of $1,000,008.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 486,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,305,284.58. The trade was a 3.66 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 45,010 shares of company stock valued at $2,660,276 in the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.