Centene Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CNC)

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 11,689 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 57% compared to the typical volume of 7,432 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CNC shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Centene from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Centene from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Centene from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price target for the company from $53.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Argus downgraded shares of Centene from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Centene presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.69.

Institutional Trading of Centene

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CNC. Clarius Group LLC acquired a new position in Centene in the 1st quarter valued at about $413,000. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 11,319 shares of the company's stock worth $687,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the 1st quarter worth $1,254,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 48.1% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 49,468 shares of the company's stock worth $3,003,000 after purchasing an additional 16,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Centene during the 1st quarter worth about $324,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Centene Price Performance

CNC traded down $1.28 during trading on Friday, hitting $60.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,758,979 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,702,012. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. Centene has a twelve month low of $55.03 and a twelve month high of $80.59. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $59.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The business had revenue of $40.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Centene will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal 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.