25,357,664 Shares in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Acquired by Norges Bank

Norges Bank bought a new stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 25,357,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,536,167,000. Norges Bank owned about 5.02% of Centene as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in shares of Centene by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in Centene by 75.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in shares of Centene by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 956 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Centene by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intellectus Partners LLC grew its position in Centene by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Argus cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays increased their price objective on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

Centene Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE CNC opened at $60.58 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $30.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.71, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.88. 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 52 week low of $55.03 and a 52 week high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced 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 company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.