AXQ Capital LP Sells 1,759 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

AXQ Capital LP reduced its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 13,395 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,759 shares during the period. AXQ Capital LP’s holdings in Centene were worth $811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in Centene by 75.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Centene in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Centene by 73.4% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co lifted its stake in Centene by 172.7% in the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC stock opened at $58.88 on Friday. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $80.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The business’s fifty day moving average is $60.27 and its 200 day moving average is $63.27. The stock has a market cap of $29.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.44, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CNC. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group raised Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

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.