QRG Capital Management Inc. Has $8.01 Million Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

QRG Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 22.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 132,170 shares of the company’s stock after selling 38,336 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Centene were worth $8,007,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Centene by 693.5% during the 4th 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 during the period. Harris Associates L P raised its stake in shares of Centene by 5.7% during the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,980,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,825 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 428,100 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Centene by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,082,000 after purchasing an additional 343,559 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new position in Centene during the 3rd quarter worth $19,464,000. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 5,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $58.86 per share, for a total transaction of $294,300.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 23,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,353,780. The trade was a 27.78 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $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 acquired 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Centene Stock Up 2.2 %

CNC stock opened at $58.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. Centene Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.03 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.38. The company has a market cap of $28.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CNC. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Centene from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.92.

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.