Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $34.86 Million Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 575,460 shares of the company’s stock after selling 46,204 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of Centene worth $34,861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CNC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Centene by 693.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,346,000 after acquiring an additional 1,490,935 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P boosted its position in Centene by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,980,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,825 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Centene by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,126,000 after acquiring an additional 428,100 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Centene by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,082,000 after acquiring an additional 343,559 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Centene during the 3rd quarter worth about $236,940,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on CNC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price objective (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.92.

Centene Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of CNC stock opened at $57.72 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $81.42. The company has a market capitalization of $28.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.25, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.45.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 7.01 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Centene news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II purchased 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $58.86 per share, with a total value of $294,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,353,780. This represents a 27.78 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director H James Dallas purchased 1,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $59.01 per share, for a total transaction of $99,903.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99,903.93. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.