Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,806,185 shares of the company’s stock after selling 118,830 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.36% of Centene worth $109,419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Centene by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 21,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,650,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Centene by 24.6% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 28,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,183,000 after purchasing an additional 5,716 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the third quarter valued at $2,861,000. Clearline Capital LP raised its stake in shares of Centene by 2.6% during the third quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 275,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,718,000 after purchasing an additional 6,936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cinctive Capital Management LP bought a new position in Centene in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,666,000. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on CNC shares. Stephens dropped their price target on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Argus cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.92.

Centene Stock Up 1.2 %

CNC stock opened at $60.78 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.56. Centene Co. has a 52-week low of $55.03 and a 52-week high of $80.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

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.