Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Decreases Stock Position in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC reduced its position in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 260,185 shares of the company's stock after selling 4,789 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned about 0.05% of Centene worth $15,796,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CNC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,536,167,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Centene by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company's stock valued at $469,053,000 after purchasing an additional 2,319,952 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its position in shares of Centene by 1,788.1% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,245,511 shares of the company's stock valued at $136,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,126,582 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Centene by 111.5% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,608,213 shares of the company's stock valued at $219,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,902,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Centene by 21.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company's stock valued at $639,450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,358 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays reiterated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $65.00 price target (down previously from $84.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded 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 ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.71.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of Centene stock traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $53.98. The company had a trading volume of 5,925,767 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,971,586. Centene Corporation has a one year low of $52.93 and a one year high of $80.59. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $26.86 billion, a PE ratio of 8.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.45.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $46.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.16 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 2.04%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.26 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Centene Company 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.