Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Short Interest Up 63.8% in March

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,910,000 shares, an increase of 63.8% from the February 28th total of 6,050,000 shares. Approximately 2.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 4,970,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CNC. Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Centene in the 3rd quarter valued at $761,000. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its position in Centene by 75.3% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 773 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Centene by 2.8% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 654,251 shares of the company's stock worth $49,252,000 after buying an additional 18,066 shares during the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its stake in shares of Centene by 3.5% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 249,105 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,753,000 after acquiring an additional 8,316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Centene by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 304,148 shares of the company's stock worth $22,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,556 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on CNC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Centene in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Centene from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $79.92.

Centene Stock Performance

CNC traded down $0.01 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $60.44. 914,554 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,436,629. The company has a market capitalization of $29.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.69, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.45. Centene has a fifty-two week low of $55.03 and a fifty-two week high of $80.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. Centene had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm's revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Centene will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.