Ethic Inc. Sells 9,338 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Ethic Inc. decreased its holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 16.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 48,866 shares of the company's stock after selling 9,338 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Centene were worth $2,960,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CNC. Fiduciary Trust Co grew its position in Centene by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 24,527 shares of the company's stock worth $1,486,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C grew its position in Centene by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 2,671,921 shares of the company's stock worth $161,865,000 after acquiring an additional 19,732 shares during the last quarter. DME Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Centene during the 4th quarter worth $52,735,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in Centene by 114.6% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 335,786 shares of the company's stock worth $20,342,000 after acquiring an additional 179,329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC grew its position in Centene by 26.2% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 3,938 shares of the company's stock worth $239,000 after acquiring an additional 818 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. StockNews.com lowered Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Argus lowered Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $79.77.

Centene Stock Up 0.6%

CNC stock opened at $62.82 on Monday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $60.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.49. Centene Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.03 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $31.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.48.

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

Centene Company 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.

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