Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) Shares Sold by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 67.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,338 shares of the company's stock after selling 52,836 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Centene were worth $1,538,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in Centene by 55.6% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 45,103 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,732,000 after buying an additional 16,108 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 216,928 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,142,000 after purchasing an additional 100,039 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 32.3% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 6,333 shares of the company's stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 30.0% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 708,717 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,026,000 after purchasing an additional 163,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Centene by 41.4% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 925,150 shares of the company's stock worth $56,046,000 after buying an additional 270,899 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CNC. Barclays lowered their price target on Centene from $65.00 to $45.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Mizuho lowered their price target on Centene from $71.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Centene from $68.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Centene from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Centene from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $45.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $27.62 per share, for a total transaction of $248,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 32,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $883,840. This represents a 39.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Centene Stock Down 0.6%

Centene stock traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $25.92. The stock had a trading volume of 17,527,511 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,992,306. Centene Corporation has a 52 week low of $25.11 and a 52 week high of $80.59. The company has a market cap of $12.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.42, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The business's 50 day moving average price is $44.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.85.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.39). Centene had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 1.15%. The business had revenue of $48.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.42 EPS. Centene's revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 EPS for the current 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.