Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 2,152 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lessened its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 5.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 40,590 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,152 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Centene were worth $3,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CNC. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter worth about $1,325,441,000. Harris Associates L P raised its position in Centene by 172.8% in the 4th quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 10,863,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $806,170,000 after buying an additional 6,881,450 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Centene by 60.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,216,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $409,390,000 after buying an additional 1,959,460 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Centene by 535.9% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,837,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,396,000 after buying an additional 1,548,961 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP raised its position in Centene by 375.1% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 1,943,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,263,000 after buying an additional 1,534,826 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Centene news, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total value of $67,386.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,957,432. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total transaction of $67,386.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,957,432. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total value of $620,960.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 300,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,313,710.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Centene from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $83.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Centene from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.86.

Centene Price Performance

CNC stock traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $73.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,043,424 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,449,588. Centene Co. has a 12 month low of $60.83 and a 12 month high of $81.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $69.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.70.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.02). Centene had a return on equity of 14.45% and a net margin of 1.79%. The business had revenue of $39.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

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.