Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Centene Put Options (NYSE:CNC)

Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 20,544 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 165% compared to the average daily volume of 7,749 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CNC shares. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Centene from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Centene from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Wall Street Zen cut Centene from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 31st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Centene from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $71.00 price objective on shares of Centene and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.80.

Centene Price Performance

Shares of CNC stock opened at $70.53 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market cap of $34.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.07. Centene has a one year low of $31.63 and a one year high of $78.08.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $50.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.12 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 0.72%. The business’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Centene will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Centene news, General Counsel Christopher Koster sold 56,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.90, for a total transaction of $3,779,850.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 248,854 shares in the company, valued at $16,648,332.60. This trade represents a 18.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Centene

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNC. Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Centene during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,248,000. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene in the third quarter valued at about $2,186,000. Westpac Banking Corp raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 714.9% in the third quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 101,962 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,334,000 after buying an additional 89,450 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in Centene by 225.8% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 11,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $705,000 after buying an additional 7,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC lifted its position in Centene by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 1,507,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,654,000 after buying an additional 32,833 shares in the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Centene Company Profile

Centene Corporation is a U.S. health care company that provides managed care and related services, primarily for people enrolled in government-sponsored health programs. Its offerings include Medicaid and Medicare plans, as well as health insurance sold through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Centene serves members through health plans and a network of health care providers. Its businesses include Ambetter, which offers marketplace health plans, and Wellcare, which provides Medicare-related coverage.