Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 110,418 Shares of Centene Corporation $CNC

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon cut its Centene stake by 4.2% in the first quarter, selling 110,418 shares and leaving it with about 2.5 million shares worth roughly $82 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other investors holding 93.63% of Centene shares; several firms recently increased their positions significantly.
• Centene reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue expectations with $3.37 EPS and $49.94 billion in revenue, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Hold with a $64.61 price target.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its position in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 4.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,503,994 shares of the company's stock after selling 110,418 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.51% of Centene worth $81,981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 117.0% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 31,798,738 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,308,518,000 after purchasing an additional 17,143,904 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Centene during the 4th quarter worth $332,044,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. boosted its position in Centene by 184.0% in the 3rd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 9,046,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $322,761,000 after buying an additional 5,860,630 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Centene by 52.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,171,568 shares of the company's stock worth $295,111,000 after acquiring an additional 2,472,341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 535.6% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,750,326 shares of the company's stock valued at $113,176,000 after acquiring an additional 2,317,618 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on CNC shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Centene from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Centene from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $61.00 target price (up from $55.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Centene from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.61.

Centene Stock Performance

CNC opened at $67.58 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company has a market capitalization of $33.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.07. The business's 50-day moving average price is $63.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.26. Centene Corporation has a 1 year low of $25.08 and a 1 year high of $69.36.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $1.14. The firm had revenue of $49.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $47.53 billion. Centene had a negative net margin of 3.25% and a positive return on equity of 5.57%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.90 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Centene Corporation will post 3.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Centene

Centene Corporation NYSE: CNC is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that specializes in providing services to government-sponsored and national health programs. The company primarily acts as a managed care organization, delivering healthcare coverage and administering benefits for Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and individual marketplace plans. Centene also contracts with federal and state agencies to manage specialty care programs and community-based services for vulnerable populations.

Centene's offerings extend beyond traditional insurance to include a range of specialty and support services.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.