Short Interest in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Grows By 25.2%

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,490,000 shares, a growth of 25.2% from the April 30th total of 7,580,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,290,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Centene news, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total value of $67,386.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,957,432. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.62, for a total transaction of $620,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 300,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,313,710.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Christopher J. Coughlin sold 878 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.75, for a total value of $67,386.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,957,432. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 0.4% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,652,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $678,033,000 after buying an additional 32,427 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its position in Centene by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 20,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,632,000 after acquiring an additional 4,122 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Centene by 526.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 56,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,413,000 after purchasing an additional 47,257 shares during the last quarter. Beck Bode LLC increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 1.8% in the first quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 66,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,246,000 after purchasing an additional 1,194 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Centene by 13.3% during the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 25,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,944 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Baird R W raised Centene to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Centene from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research report on Thursday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.93.

Centene Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE CNC traded up $2.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $71.59. 7,385,022 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,375,411. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $74.88 and a 200 day moving average of $75.62. Centene has a 1 year low of $60.83 and a 1 year high of $81.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $38.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.41.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.17. Centene had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 14.19%. The business had revenue of $40.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.43 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.11 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Centene will post 6.82 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.