Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Cencora (NYSE:COR)

Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 3,149 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 122% compared to the average volume of 1,416 call options.

Insider Activity

In other Cencora news, CEO Robert P. Mauch sold 5,096 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $366.64, for a total transaction of $1,868,397.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,105,113.44. This represents a 7.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 31,350 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.86, for a total transaction of $9,087,111.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 305,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $88,671,942.18. The trade was a 9.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 46,640 shares of company stock worth $14,099,338. Insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased its holdings in shares of Cencora by 318.5% in the second quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 4,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,300,000 after buying an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Voleon Capital Management LP bought a new position in Cencora during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,111,000. Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in Cencora by 25.8% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Cencora by 947.5% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 257,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,069,000 after purchasing an additional 232,539 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cencora during the second quarter valued at approximately $262,000. Institutional investors own 97.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Cencora from $344.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Cencora from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Cencora from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered Cencora from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cencora from $354.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.09.

Cencora Stock Performance

NYSE:COR opened at $339.28 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $65.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.68, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.32. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $340.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $309.49. Cencora has a twelve month low of $223.92 and a twelve month high of $377.54.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $83.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $83.36 billion. Cencora had a net margin of 0.48% and a return on equity of 227.15%. Cencora’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.34 earnings per share. Cencora has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.450-17.75 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cencora will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cencora Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Cencora’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Cencora’s payout ratio is presently 30.19%.

Cencora Company Profile

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.