Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC Has $4.56 Million Holdings in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC)

Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 120.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 75,032 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 40,925 shares during the period. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC's holdings in Centene were worth $4,555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CNC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Centene during the 4th quarter worth $1,536,167,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Centene by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company's stock worth $469,053,000 after acquiring an additional 2,319,952 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in Centene by 1,788.1% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,245,511 shares of the company's stock worth $136,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,126,582 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Centene by 111.5% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,608,213 shares of the company's stock worth $219,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,902,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Centene by 21.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company's stock worth $639,450,000 after acquiring an additional 1,884,358 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on CNC. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $45.00 target price (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $65.00 to $45.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $65.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $68.87.

Centene Price Performance

CNC traded down $0.25 during trading on Monday, hitting $33.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 22,979,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,527,741. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $55.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Centene Corporation has a 12 month low of $33.00 and a 12 month high of $80.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.44.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 2.04%. The firm had revenue of $46.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.26 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.