Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Bought by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 80.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,080,826 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 928,465 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.41% of Centene worth $126,056,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Centene by 212.8% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 15,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 10,420 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Centene by 41.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 86,587 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,518,000 after purchasing an additional 25,412 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in Centene in the third quarter valued at approximately $761,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Centene by 283.2% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,077 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,000 after buying an additional 2,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Centene by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 5,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 686 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stephens dropped their price target on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Argus cut Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Centene has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.92.

Centene Price Performance

CNC opened at $59.38 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $29.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. Centene Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.03 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $60.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.98.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share 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.