Pinebridge Investments L.P. Sells 289,238 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Pinebridge Investments L.P. trimmed its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 52.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 258,111 shares of the company's stock after selling 289,238 shares during the period. Pinebridge Investments L.P. owned 0.05% of Centene worth $15,636,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the third quarter worth approximately $844,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the third quarter worth approximately $211,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Centene by 21.8% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 42,117 shares of the company's stock worth $3,171,000 after buying an additional 7,549 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Centene by 32.4% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,152 shares of the company's stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 1,016 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Centene by 3.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 621,664 shares of the company's stock worth $46,799,000 after buying an additional 22,233 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Centene Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:CNC traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $59.23. 1,738,169 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,742,647. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $60.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Centene Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.03 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59. The firm has a market cap of $29.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.49, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $46.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.26 EPS. The company's revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on Centene from $93.00 to $84.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Centene from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.00.

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.