Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.55 Per Share

Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 6th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of 0.55 per share on Friday, November 29th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This is an increase from Cencora’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51.

Cencora has raised its dividend by an average of 5.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Cencora has a dividend payout ratio of 13.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Cencora to earn $14.82 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.8%.

Cencora Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE COR traded up $11.39 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $245.38. 2,215,425 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,409,102. Cencora has a 1-year low of $191.11 and a 1-year high of $247.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.93, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.44. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $231.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.64.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $3.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.21 by $0.13. Cencora had a return on equity of 266.60% and a net margin of 0.65%. The business had revenue of $79.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $77.68 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cencora will post 13.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 21,509 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.80, for a total value of $5,071,822.20. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 285,088 shares in the company, valued at $67,223,750.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 15.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on COR. Leerink Partners cut their price objective on Cencora from $277.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com cut Cencora from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $245.00 price target (down previously from $275.00) on shares of Cencora in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Cencora from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Cencora from $280.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.67.

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.