Short Interest in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Grows By 18.7%

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,670,000 shares, a growth of 18.7% from the January 15th total of 5,620,000 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,450,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.2 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CNC. Barclays raised their price target on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Argus lowered Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.92.

Centene Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:CNC opened at $56.87 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Centene has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $81.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.47.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced 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. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Centene will post 6.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Centene news, Director Thomas Greco purchased 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This trade represents a 736.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director H James Dallas purchased 1,693 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were acquired 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 directly owns 1,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,903.93. This trade represents a ? increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $1,409,954 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Harris Associates L P raised its stake in shares of Centene by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 26,314,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,980,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,825 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter worth about $1,536,167,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Centene by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,468,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,766,683,000 after purchasing an additional 111,654 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Centene by 21.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,555,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $639,450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Centene by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,742,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $469,053,000 after purchasing an additional 2,319,952 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Centene

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.