Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Raises Stock Holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 14.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 540,237 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 68,610 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned approximately 0.11% of Centene worth $32,798,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter worth about $1,536,167,000. 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 acquiring an additional 1,884,358 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Centene by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company's stock worth $469,053,000 after acquiring an additional 2,319,952 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 32.3% during the 4th 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. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,294,816 shares of the company's stock worth $320,760,000 after purchasing an additional 443,121 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Centene Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE:CNC opened at $55.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $27.45 billion, a PE ratio of 8.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. The business's 50 day moving average is $59.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Centene Co. has a 52 week low of $54.01 and a 52 week high of $80.59.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CNC shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. Finally, Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $65.00 price objective (down from $84.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $78.31.

About Centene

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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