Man Group plc Reduces Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Man Group plc reduced its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 36.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 813,006 shares of the company's stock after selling 471,286 shares during the period. Man Group plc owned approximately 0.16% of Centene worth $49,252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 221,156 shares of the company's stock worth $13,398,000 after buying an additional 10,515 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd increased its holdings in Centene by 68.4% in the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 36,126 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,189,000 after buying an additional 14,671 shares in the last quarter. Polianta Ltd increased its holdings in Centene by 41.7% in the fourth quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 22,100 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,338,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Centene by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company's stock valued at $97,082,000 after buying an additional 343,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Centene by 40.9% in the fourth quarter. Washington Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,130 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,159,000 after buying an additional 5,550 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Centene Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of CNC stock traded up $1.72 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $61.78. The company had a trading volume of 4,368,389 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,868,414. The company's fifty day moving average is $60.66 and its 200 day moving average is $60.45. 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 fifty-two week low of $55.03 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.74 billion, a PE ratio of 9.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.48.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.38. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm had revenue of $46.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.26 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect 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.