Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Acquires 74,576 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC – Get Rating) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,952,707 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 74,576 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned approximately 0.33% of Centene worth $160,903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Centene by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 148,058 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,200,000 after acquiring an additional 5,457 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. purchased a new position in Centene during the fourth quarter valued at $511,000. RFG Advisory LLC raised its stake in Centene by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 15,711 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,295,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Centene by 98.1% in the fourth quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $963,000 after purchasing an additional 6,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cortland Associates Inc. MO raised its stake in shares of Centene by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Cortland Associates Inc. MO now owns 506,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,774,000 after purchasing an additional 14,759 shares during the last quarter. 90.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

In other news, EVP Mark J. Brooks sold 2,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $221,920.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Mark J. Brooks sold 3,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.71, for a total transaction of $305,199.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,464 shares of company stock worth $837,560 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

A number of analysts recently commented on CNC shares. Stephens upped their price objective on Centene from $82.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Centene from $86.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 17th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Centene from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Centene from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Centene in a report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.61.

CNC stock traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $88.24. 12,860 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,939,679. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. Centene Co. has a one year low of $59.33 and a one year high of $89.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.43 billion, a PE ratio of 38.98, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $84.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.60.

Centene (NYSE:CNC – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 8th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.03. Centene had a net margin of 1.07% and a return on equity of 11.47%. The business had revenue of $32.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Centene Company Profile (Get Rating)

Centene Corporation operates as a multi-national healthcare enterprise that provides programs and services to under-insured and uninsured individuals in the United States. Its Managed Care segment offers health plan coverage to individuals through government subsidized programs, including Medicaid, the State children's health insurance program, long-term services and support, foster care, and medicare-medicaid plans, which cover dually eligible individuals, as well as aged, blind, or disabled programs.

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