5 Prominent NYSE Stocks That Hit 52-Week Highs Monday

Centene Shares Looking Healthy Again

After a big run-up from the beginning of 2013 through the middle of 2015, Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) hit a wall for nearly a year. However, the stock has finally broken free of its restraints in the past two months, which culminated in it hitting its 52-week high of $75.57 on Monday, a day ahead of the release of its second quarter results. The healthcare plan provider has grown into a $12 billion company through a host of contracts and acquisitions and doesn’t appear set to rest on its laurels just yet, having made a bid for some of Aetna Inc (NYSE:AET)’s assets before that company’s planned merger with Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) was scuttled by the DOJ. While those assets may no longer be in play at the moment, it’s clear Centene has a big appetite for further growth.

Among the hedge funds in our database, 47 owned shares of Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) at the end of March, a jump of 20 quarter-over-quarter.

Upgrade Helps Hewlett Packard Hop to Yearly High

Following a post-Brexit tumble, shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) have steadily pared  their losses, hitting their 52-week high of $20.49 on Monday. The stock has been strong since late-May save for the Brexit stumble, as the company continues to make sound progress on its reorganization. Helping the company reach its 52-week high today was Citigroup, which upgraded the stock to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’, and hiked its price target on it to $25 from $20.

Stephen J. Errico’s Locust Wood Capital Advisers opened a position of 828,495 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) during the second quarter.

Bullish Report Pushes Fabrinet Higher

As mentioned, Fabrinet (NYSE:FN) had a big day, posting gains of 7% on Monday to push to its 52-week high of $41.20. The gains materialized after Needham & Company analyst Alex Henderson reiterated his ‘Buy’ rating on the stock and upped his price target on it to $48 from $45. Mr. Henderson believes that estimates look conservative and that the company will have plenty of positive earnings surprises in store for market participants in the coming quarters. Fabrinet shares have gained 123% in the last year but still trade at a modest Enterprise Value/EBITDA ratio of 12-times.

Small-cap investor Chuck Royce owned 1.58 million shares of Fabrinet (NYSE:FN) valued at $51.18 million at the end of March.

Disclosure: None