Retirement Systems of Alabama Lowers Stock Holdings in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its position in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 1.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 601,845 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,395 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.12% of Centene worth $36,538,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CNC. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in shares of Centene by 75.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on CNC. Wall Street Zen lowered Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Centene in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Centene in a research note on Monday, June 9th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $65.00 target price (down from $84.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $77.71.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of CNC stock traded down $0.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $54.48. The stock had a trading volume of 11,156,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,937,668. The firm has a market cap of $27.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.12, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.45. Centene Corporation has a 1-year low of $53.99 and a 1-year high of $80.59. The business's fifty day moving average is $58.49 and its 200-day moving average is $59.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $46.62 billion for 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%. Centene's revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.26 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share 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.