Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Shares Purchased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 111.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,608,213 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 1,902,277 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.73% of Centene worth $219,055,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,094 shares of the company's stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of Centene by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,092 shares of the company's stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in shares of Centene by 75.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of Centene by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 956 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,591 shares of the company's stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Centene Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Centene stock traded down $0.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $55.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,457,567 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,897,856. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $27.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $54.01 and a 1-year high of $80.59. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.92.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen cut Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $65.00 price objective (down previously from $84.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $77.71.

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.