Graham Capital Management L.P. Increases Holdings in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Graham Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) by 405.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 34,079 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 27,336 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Centene were worth $2,065,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CNC. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 75.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Centene in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Centene by 73.4% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CNC. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Centene from $93.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.77.

Centene Stock Performance

NYSE CNC opened at $62.82 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.26 billion, a PE ratio of 10.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $60.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.49. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $80.59.

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