Toronto Dominion Bank Acquires 11,657 Shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 273,367 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 11,657 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank owned 0.05% of Centene worth $16,561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CNC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Centene during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,536,167,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Centene by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company's stock valued at $469,053,000 after buying an additional 2,319,952 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its stake in Centene by 1,788.1% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,245,511 shares of the company's stock valued at $136,033,000 after buying an additional 2,126,582 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Centene by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company's stock valued at $639,450,000 after buying an additional 1,884,358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake 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 valued at $228,414,000 after buying an additional 1,802,265 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Centene from $93.00 to $84.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Argus downgraded Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $79.77.

Centene Stock Performance

Shares of Centene stock traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $56.36. The company had a trading volume of 6,738,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,872,125. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $60.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.22. The stock has a market cap of $28.04 billion, a PE ratio of 9.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $46.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.16 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. Centene's quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS 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.