Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Makes New Investment in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,454 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $452,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Centene by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 221,156 shares of the company's stock worth $13,398,000 after acquiring an additional 10,515 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd raised its holdings in Centene by 68.4% during the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company's stock worth $2,189,000 after buying an additional 14,671 shares during the last quarter. Polianta Ltd raised its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Centene by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company's stock worth $97,082,000 after buying an additional 343,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Centene by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Washington Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,130 shares of the company's stock worth $1,159,000 after buying an additional 5,550 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNC has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Centene from $93.00 to $84.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Argus downgraded shares of Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $79.77.

Centene Stock Performance

NYSE:CNC traded down $0.31 on Monday, reaching $61.47. 4,842,048 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,868,307. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $30.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.48. Centene Co. has a 52 week low of $55.03 and a 52 week high of $80.59. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.44.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.38. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company had revenue of $46.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.16 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.26 earnings per share. Centene's revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share 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.