Blueshift Asset Management LLC Has $611,000 Stake in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC)

Blueshift Asset Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 58.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,059 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,957 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $611,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Centene by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $469,053,000 after purchasing an additional 2,319,952 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in shares of Centene by 1,788.1% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,245,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,126,582 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Centene by 111.5% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,608,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,902,277 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Centene by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $639,450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,358 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Centene by 91.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,770,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $228,414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,802,265 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Centene from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $72.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased 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, April 29th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $45.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $68.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.31.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of Centene stock opened at $25.92 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Centene Corporation has a twelve month low of $25.11 and a twelve month high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $48.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.71 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.15% and a return on equity of 9.57%. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Centene Corporation will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Centene

In other news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $27.62 per share, for a total transaction of $248,580.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 32,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $883,840. This represents a 39.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.