Short Interest in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) Rises By 63.8%

Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC) was the target of 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. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,970,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days. Approximately 2.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Centene in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Argus lowered shares of Centene from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stephens dropped their target price on Centene from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.92.

Centene Trading Down 0.1 %

CNC stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $60.01. 1,331,433 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,483,431. Centene has a 52-week low of $55.03 and a 52-week high of $80.59. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $59.94 and its 200-day moving average is $62.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $29.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Centene will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its holdings in Centene by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in Centene by 75.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in Centene by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intellectus Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Centene by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company’s stock.

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.