Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 29,235 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 233.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 41,770 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 29,235 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Centene were worth $2,536,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its holdings in Centene by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,094 shares of the company's stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Centene by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 84,555 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,114,000 after acquiring an additional 11,193 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Centene by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,657,215 shares of the company's stock valued at $100,394,000 after acquiring an additional 98,509 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in Centene by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 55,700 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,374,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Graphene Investments SAS boosted its holdings in Centene by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Graphene Investments SAS now owns 51,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,126,000 after acquiring an additional 10,300 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on CNC shares. Wall Street Zen cut Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Argus cut Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $78.31.

Centene Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE CNC opened at $54.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.78, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.10. Centene Co. has a 12 month low of $54.01 and a 12 month high of $80.59. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $46.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.16 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. Centene's quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.26 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS 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.

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