Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) Position Reduced by Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lessened its position in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 12.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,594 shares of the company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Centene were worth $218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of CNC. Independent Advisor Alliance acquired a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter worth approximately $204,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Centene by 25.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Centene by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 16,460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $997,000 after buying an additional 4,077 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Centene by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 72,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,398,000 after buying an additional 2,689 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 80,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,884,000 after purchasing an additional 8,787 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America downgraded shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho reduced their price target on Centene from $71.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Oppenheimer set a $51.00 price objective on Centene and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.63.

Centene Price Performance

Centene stock opened at $30.39 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $51.39 and its 200 day moving average is $57.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $15.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.44. Centene Corporation has a one year low of $29.50 and a one year high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.38. Centene had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 2.04%. The firm had revenue of $46.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.26 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 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. 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.