Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Takes $356,000 Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $356,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 693.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,346,000 after acquiring an additional 1,490,935 shares in the last quarter. Harris Associates L P raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 5.7% during the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,980,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,825 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 15.4% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,126,000 after acquiring an additional 428,100 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,602,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,082,000 after acquiring an additional 343,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the third quarter worth $19,464,000. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at $1,153,712.75. The trade was a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director H James Dallas purchased 1,693 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $59.01 per share, for a total transaction of $99,903.93. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 1,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99,903.93. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on CNC shares. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $79.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stephens cut their target price on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays raised their target price on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Centene from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.92.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC stock opened at $58.06 on Friday. Centene Co. has a 12-month low of $55.03 and a 12-month high of $80.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $60.98 and a 200-day moving average of $65.18.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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.