Portside Wealth Group LLC Buys 4,767 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 49.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,487 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,767 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC's holdings in Centene were worth $878,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new stake in Centene during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 75.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on CNC shares. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $65.00 target price (down from $84.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Centene currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $78.31.

Centene Stock Performance

CNC traded up $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $55.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,097,377 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,890,025. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $54.01 and a twelve month high of $80.59. The stock has a market cap of $27.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.84, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.10. 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 (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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $46.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.16 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. Centene's revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.26 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Centene 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.