Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Sells 738,899 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich trimmed its holdings in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 98.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,590 shares of the company’s stock after selling 738,899 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Centene were worth $895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in shares of Centene by 75.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 75.3% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the third quarter valued at about $66,000. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC stock opened at $60.03 on Monday. Centene Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.03 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.62, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Centene

In other news, Director Thomas Greco bought 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director H James Dallas bought 1,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $59.01 per share, for a total transaction of $99,903.93. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99,903.93. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.92.

Centene Company 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.