Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Centene (NYSE:CNC)

Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 37,134 call options on the company. Thisrepresentsanincreaseof46% compared to the average daily volume of 25,521 call options.

Centene Trading Up 5.8%

NYSE CNC opened at $28.50 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.00. Centene has a 52 week low of $25.08 and a 52 week high of $80.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $14.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.05, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.40.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.39). Centene had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 1.15%. The firm had revenue of $48.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Centene will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Centene

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the first quarter worth $26,000. Studio Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centene in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Centene by 203.1% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 579 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. 93.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CNC shares. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Centene from $71.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Centene from $42.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Centene from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Monday, July 28th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Centene from $45.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Centene from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centene currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.20.

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.