Centene Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CNC)

Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 52,097 call options on the company. This is an increase of 55% compared to the average volume of 33,700 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on CNC. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Centene from $45.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Centene from $51.00 to $43.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Centene from $68.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Centene from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $72.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.93.

Insider Transactions at Centene

In other news, CEO Sarah London bought 19,230 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $25.50 per share, with a total value of $490,365.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 845,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,554,512.50. This trade represents a 2.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Theodore R. Samuels II bought 9,000 shares of Centene stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $27.62 per share, for a total transaction of $248,580.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 32,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $883,840. This trade represents a 39.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the period. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,617 shares of the company’s stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Poinciana Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Poinciana Advisors Group LLC now owns 7,221 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 3,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Centene by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $270,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. 93.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC opened at $34.15 on Friday. Centene has a fifty-two week low of $25.08 and a fifty-two week high of $77.29. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $28.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.08. The company has a market cap of $16.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.45, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.39). Centene had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 1.15%.The business had revenue of $48.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. Centene’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. Centene has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.750-1.750 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Centene will post 6.86 earnings per share 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.