Investors Buy High Volume of Put Options on Centene (NYSE:CNC)

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 6,219 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 64% compared to the average daily volume of 3,781 put options.

Centene Price Performance

CNC opened at $74.00 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $76.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.80. Centene has a 1 year low of $60.83 and a 1 year high of $81.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.58 billion, a PE ratio of 15.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.38.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.17. Centene had a return on equity of 14.26% and a net margin of 1.75%. The company had revenue of $40.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.11 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Centene will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $900,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 235,365 shares in the company, valued at $17,668,850.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, President Kenneth J. Fasola sold 12,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $900,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 235,365 shares in the company, valued at $17,668,850.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 10,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.41, for a total value of $774,100.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $886,731.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Operose Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Centene in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Centene in the first quarter worth about $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Centene in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in Centene in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 price target (down previously from $92.00) on shares of Centene in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Centene from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com lowered Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Barclays assumed coverage on Centene in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $101.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Centene in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.25.

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.