Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,200,000 shares, a decline of 14.6% from the March 15th total of 9,600,000 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 3,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Centene Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $72.72 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $38.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Centene has a fifty-two week low of $60.83 and a fifty-two week high of $81.42.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $39.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.16 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.75% and a return on equity of 14.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Centene will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total transaction of $774,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $886,731.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Centene news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total value of $774,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $886,731.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $900,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 235,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,668,850.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Centene

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new position in Centene during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Centene during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Centene during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Operose Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Centene during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Centene during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on CNC. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Centene from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $101.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Centene from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.38.

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.