Axa S.A. Has $18.41 Million Stock Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

AXA S.A. lessened its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 61.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 303,896 shares of the company's stock after selling 487,117 shares during the quarter. AXA S.A. owned approximately 0.06% of Centene worth $18,410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CNC. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at $70,963,000. Voleon Capital Management LP bought a new position in Centene in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,656,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter worth about $6,173,000. 8 Knots Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC now owns 2,000,256 shares of the company's stock worth $121,176,000 after acquiring an additional 313,447 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company's stock valued at $469,053,000 after acquiring an additional 2,319,952 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on Centene from $93.00 to $84.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Argus lowered Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $79.77.

Centene Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE:CNC traded down $0.53 on Thursday, hitting $62.39. 5,007,529 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,799,918. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $60.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $31.04 billion, a PE ratio of 10.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.48. Centene Co. has a 1 year low of $55.03 and a 1 year high of $80.59.

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