Centene Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:CNC)

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 9,141 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 95% compared to the average daily volume of 4,689 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total value of $620,960.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 300,357 shares in the company, valued at $23,313,710.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total value of $620,960.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 300,357 shares in the company, valued at $23,313,710.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total transaction of $67,386.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 25,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,957,432. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Centene

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Moody National Bank Trust Division lifted its position in Centene by 7.9% during the second quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 10,140 shares of the company’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 739 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,000 after buying an additional 301 shares during the period. Davis Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Centene by 13.2% in the second quarter. Davis Capital Management now owns 16,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,068,000 after acquiring an additional 1,903 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Centene during the second quarter valued at $823,000. Finally, Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Centene by 23.2% in the first quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on CNC shares. StockNews.com lowered Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Centene from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Centene from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.93.

Centene Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:CNC opened at $66.76 on Friday. Centene has a 12-month low of $60.83 and a 12-month high of $81.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.27, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $40.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.43 billion. Centene had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 14.19%. Centene’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.11 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Centene will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.