Cigna Investments Inc. New Sells 251 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Cigna Investments Inc. New cut its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,204 shares of the company’s stock after selling 251 shares during the quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New’s holdings in Centene were worth $315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Harris Associates L P raised its stake in Centene by 5.7% during the third 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Centene by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,468,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,766,683,000 after purchasing an additional 111,654 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Centene by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,768,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $434,255,000 after purchasing an additional 194,566 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Centene by 15.4% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,126,000 after buying an additional 428,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 693.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,346,000 after buying an additional 1,490,935 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of Centene stock opened at $57.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $61.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.91. 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 has a market capitalization of $28.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.19, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.45. Centene Co. has a 52 week low of $55.03 and a 52 week high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Centene news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 5,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $58.86 per share, for a total transaction of $294,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 23,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,353,780. The trade was a 27.78 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CNC shares. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays increased their target price on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price target (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered 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 issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Centene has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.31.

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.