Bridgewater Associates LP Grows Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 161.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,222,029 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 754,784 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP owned approximately 0.24% of Centene worth $74,031,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 69.4% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 35,585 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,679,000 after purchasing an additional 14,581 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Centene in the 3rd quarter worth $844,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 60,155 shares of the company's stock worth $4,528,000 after buying an additional 9,287 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the 3rd quarter valued at about $211,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in Centene by 21.8% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 42,117 shares of the company's stock worth $3,171,000 after acquiring an additional 7,549 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on CNC. StockNews.com upgraded Centene from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Centene from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $64.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Centene presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.69.

Centene Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of CNC stock traded down $1.28 on Friday, hitting $60.70. The stock had a trading volume of 5,758,979 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,702,012. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Centene Co. has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year high of $80.59. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.31. The company has a market cap of $30.11 billion, a PE ratio of 9.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. The business's revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Centene

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.