Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 1,480,259 Shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp decreased its position in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 32.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,065,090 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,480,259 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.62% of Centene worth $186,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Centene during the 4th quarter worth $1,536,167,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Centene by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,469,062 shares of the company's stock worth $391,854,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578,917 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Centene by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,294,816 shares of the company's stock worth $320,760,000 after acquiring an additional 443,121 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on CNC shares. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $65.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $48.00 price target (down from $75.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Centene from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $70.00 to $33.00 in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $45.00 price target (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Centene has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.40.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNC traded down $0.56 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $31.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,197,104 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,706,740. Centene Corporation has a one year low of $31.78 and a one year high of $80.59. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $53.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $15.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.44.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.38. Centene had a net margin of 2.04% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The business had revenue of $46.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.26 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 EPS 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.