Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Centene Corporation $CNC

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 2.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 178,058 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,590 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Centene were worth $9,665,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $341,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Poinciana Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in Centene by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Poinciana Advisors Group LLC now owns 7,221 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel lifted its stake in Centene by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 3,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in Centene by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in Centene by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 97,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,910,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on CNC shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $68.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Centene from $45.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Centene from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Centene from $51.00 to $43.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Centene from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $30.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.50.

Centene Price Performance

CNC stock opened at $34.07 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. Centene Corporation has a 52 week low of $25.08 and a 52 week high of $70.11. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $33.01 and its 200 day moving average is $42.56. The firm has a market cap of $16.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.48.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.39). Centene had a net margin of 1.15% and a return on equity of 9.57%. The business had revenue of $48.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.42 EPS. Centene’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Centene

In other Centene news, CEO Sarah London bought 19,230 shares of Centene stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.50 per share, with a total value of $490,365.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 845,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,554,512.50. This trade represents a 2.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.