Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Has $2.59 Million Stock Position in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund cut its holdings in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,610 shares of the company’s stock after selling 670 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Centene were worth $2,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in Centene by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Centene by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 31,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,932,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in Centene by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 16,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $978,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during 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 subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Centene from $65.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.87.

Centene Stock Down 1.5%

NYSE CNC opened at $33.28 on Friday. Centene Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.30 and a 1-year high of $80.59. The company has a market capitalization of $16.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.96, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $56.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.22. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $46.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.16 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 2.04%. The business’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.26 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.