MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. Acquires 18,654 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 17.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 125,373 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 18,654 shares during the quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.'s holdings in Centene were worth $7,595,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Norges Bank bought a new position in Centene during the fourth quarter worth about $1,536,167,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Centene by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company's stock worth $469,053,000 after purchasing an additional 2,319,952 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Centene by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company's stock worth $639,450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,358 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Centene by 91.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,770,426 shares of the company's stock worth $228,414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,802,265 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Centene by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,469,062 shares of the company's stock worth $391,854,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578,917 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Argus lowered shares of Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. 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. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $93.00 to $84.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Centene presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $79.77.

Centene Price Performance

Centene stock traded down $1.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $56.43. 5,205,572 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,890,815. Centene Co. has a one year low of $55.03 and a one year high of $80.59. The stock has a market cap of $28.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $60.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.34.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $46.62 billion during 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%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.26 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Centene Co. 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.