LPL Financial LLC Sells 176 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

LPL Financial LLC cut its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 0.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,708 shares of the company’s stock after selling 176 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $8,951,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its position in shares of Centene by 1,401.4% in the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 46,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,901,000 after buying an additional 43,247 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in shares of Centene by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 9,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $841,000 after buying an additional 657 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL grew its position in shares of Centene by 104.7% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 43,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,684,000 after buying an additional 22,382 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the 1st quarter worth about $203,000. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. grew its position in shares of Centene by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 37,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,149,000 after buying an additional 3,414 shares during the period. 90.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CNC shares. TheStreet raised shares of Centene from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, September 29th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Centene from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $94.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 26th. Stephens cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $87.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Centene from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.39.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $67.95 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $67.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.09. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $60.83 and a twelve month high of $87.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.30 billion, a PE ratio of 15.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.52.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 24th. The company reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.45. Centene had a net margin of 1.63% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The firm had revenue of $38.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.68 EPS for the current year.

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. It operates in two segments, Managed Care and Specialty Services. The 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.