ProShare Advisors LLC Has $4.95 Million Stock Holdings in Centene Corporation $CNC

ProShare Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 120,370 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,711 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Centene were worth $4,953,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CNC. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 76.6% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,654,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $522,885,000 after buying an additional 6,356,152 shares in the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. increased its stake in shares of Centene by 184.0% in the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 9,046,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,761,000 after buying an additional 5,860,630 shares in the last quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the third quarter valued at $186,662,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Centene by 32.0% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,716,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $310,989,000 after buying an additional 2,111,674 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Long Focus Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 705.4% in the third quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 2,299,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,028,000 after buying an additional 2,013,560 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CNC shares. Argus upgraded Centene to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Centene from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Centene from $44.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Centene from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $47.00 price target (up from $38.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Monday, May 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.94.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC opened at $59.15 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Centene Corporation has a 1 year low of $25.08 and a 1 year high of $60.76. The stock has a market cap of $29.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $43.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.63.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $1.14. The firm had revenue of $49.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.53 billion. Centene had a positive return on equity of 5.57% and a negative net margin of 3.25%.The company’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Centene Corporation will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

About Centene

Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that specializes in providing services to government-sponsored and national health programs. The company primarily acts as a managed care organization, delivering healthcare coverage and administering benefits for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and individual marketplace plans. Centene also contracts with federal and state agencies to manage specialty care programs and community-based services for vulnerable populations.

Centene’s offerings extend beyond traditional insurance to include a range of specialty and support services.