Short Interest in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Declines By 38.1%

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 6,050,000 shares, a drop of 38.1% from the February 13th total of 9,780,000 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 5,240,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on CNC. StockNews.com cut Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.92.

Insider Activity at Centene

In other news, Director Thomas Greco bought 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $59.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,015,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 19,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,153,712.75. This represents a 736.25 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director H James Dallas acquired 1,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 1,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99,903.93. The trade was a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in shares of Centene by 75.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $58.27. 4,322,105 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,468,281. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $60.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.73. Centene has a 52-week low of $55.03 and a 52-week high of $80.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $28.90 billion, a PE ratio of 9.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Centene will post 6.86 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.