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

Key Points

• Centene Corporation experienced a notable increase in options trading activity, with call options rising by 46% to a total of 37,134 on Friday.
• The company's stock price rose by 6.1% to $28.56, with a trading volume significantly higher than its average.
• Recent earnings reflected a loss of ($0.16) per share, missing estimates, despite revenue growing by 22.4% year-over-year.

Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 37,134 call options on the company. Thisisanincreaseofapproximately46% compared to the typical volume of 25,521 call options.

Centene Price Performance

Centene stock traded up $0.99 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $29.98. 1,989,170 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,560,835. Centene has a 12 month low of $25.08 and a 12 month high of $80.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $14.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.40, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.40. The stock's fifty day moving average is $36.94 and its 200-day moving average is $51.59.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $48.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.71 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 1.15%. The company's revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Centene will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centene

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 55.6% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 45,103 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,732,000 after purchasing an additional 16,108 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Centene by 32.3% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 6,333 shares of the company's stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546 shares during the period. AXS Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Centene during the 1st quarter valued at $1,458,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Centene by 30.0% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 708,717 shares of the company's stock worth $43,026,000 after purchasing an additional 163,462 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Centene by 41.4% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 925,150 shares of the company's stock valued at $56,046,000 after purchasing an additional 270,899 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CNC shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on Centene from $65.00 to $45.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Bank of America downgraded Centene from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $52.00 to $30.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Centene from $45.00 to $31.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Centene from $51.00 to $43.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Centene from $33.00 to $28.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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.