Cencora (NYSE:COR) Hits New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $298.00 to $335.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Cencora traded as high as $293.28 and last traded at $292.76, with a volume of 1570173 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $290.17.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on COR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Cencora from $289.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Cencora from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Cencora from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Cencora from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $288.00 price target on Cencora in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $290.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cencora news, CEO Robert P. Mauch sold 4,970 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total transaction of $1,267,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,022,850. This represents a 8.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Silvana Battaglia sold 5,000 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.24, for a total transaction of $1,211,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,724,197.76. This represents a 24.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,223 shares of company stock valued at $13,580,967 in the last three months. Insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cencora

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of COR. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Cencora by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,859,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,990,542,000 after buying an additional 78,066 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Cencora by 62.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,193,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,166,944,000 after acquiring an additional 1,994,256 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in Cencora by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,007,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,128,058,000 after acquiring an additional 125,611 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cencora by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,326,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $969,471,000 after purchasing an additional 130,213 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Cencora by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,243,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $728,757,000 after purchasing an additional 550,246 shares in the last quarter. 97.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cencora Trading Up 0.9 %

The firm has a market cap of $56.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $270.90 and its 200-day moving average is $250.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.40.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.50 by $0.23. Cencora had a net margin of 0.46% and a return on equity of 328.62%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cencora, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cencora Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Cencora’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.29%.

About Cencora

Cencora, Inc sources and distributes pharmaceutical products. The company's U.S. Healthcare Solutions segment distributes pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter healthcare products, home healthcare supplies and equipment, and related services to acute care hospitals and health systems, independent and chain retail pharmacies, mail order pharmacies, medical clinics, long-term care and alternate site pharmacies, and other customers; provides pharmacy management, staffing, and other consulting services; supply management software to retail and institutional healthcare providers; packaging solutions to various institutional and retail healthcare providers; clinical trial support, product post-approval, and commercialization support services; data analytics, outcomes research, and additional services for biotechnology and pharmaceutical manufacturers; pharmaceuticals, vaccines, parasiticides, diagnostics, micro feed ingredients, and other products to the companion animal and production animal markets; and sales force services to manufacturers.