Nebula Research & Development LLC Purchases Shares of 31,376 Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 31,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,901,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CNC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Centene during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,536,167,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Centene by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company's stock valued at $639,450,000 after acquiring an additional 1,884,358 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Centene by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,803,437 shares of the company's stock valued at $230,412,000 after acquiring an additional 130,895 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Centene by 91.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,770,426 shares of the company's stock worth $228,414,000 after acquiring an additional 1,802,265 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Centene by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,279,433 shares of the company's stock valued at $198,668,000 after purchasing an additional 480,082 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on CNC. Barclays reduced 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. StockNews.com downgraded Centene from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Argus downgraded Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $79.77.

Centene Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:CNC traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $59.82. 2,516,985 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,749,963. The firm has a market cap of $29.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.57, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.71. Centene Co. has a 52-week low of $55.03 and a 52-week high of $80.59. 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 (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $46.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.16 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Centene Co. will post 6.86 EPS 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.