Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Short Interest Up 18.7% in January

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

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC stock traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $56.87. 3,447,086 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,199,806. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Centene has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $81.42. The firm has a market cap of $28.71 billion, a PE ratio of 9.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.54.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. Centene’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Centene will post 6.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upgraded Centene from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays increased their price objective on Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Centene presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Centene news, Director Theodore R. Samuels II acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $58.86 per share, for a total transaction of $294,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,353,780. The trade was a 27.78 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Thomas Greco acquired 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $59.75 per share, with a total value of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,153,712.75. This trade represents a 736.25 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders bought 23,693 shares of company stock worth $1,409,954. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Centene

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter valued at $70,963,000. Voleon Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter valued at $3,656,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter valued at $6,173,000. 8 Knots Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Centene by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC now owns 2,000,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,176,000 after buying an additional 313,447 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 valued at $469,053,000 after buying an additional 2,319,952 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.