AIA Group Ltd Acquires New Holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

AIA Group Ltd purchased a new stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 6,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $411,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Centene by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 221,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,398,000 after acquiring an additional 10,515 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 68.4% in the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,189,000 after purchasing an additional 14,671 shares in the last quarter. Polianta Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 22,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,338,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in Centene by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,082,000 after buying an additional 343,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Centene by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Washington Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 5,550 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Argus lowered shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price target (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.92.

Centene Price Performance

NYSE:CNC opened at $60.41 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $29.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $59.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.45. Centene Co. has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year high of $80.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. 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 prior year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

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.