Franklin Resources Inc. Boosts Stake in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 207,131 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 35,024 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Cencora were worth $46,564,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Cencora by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,045,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,810,970,000 after purchasing an additional 291,867 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Cencora by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,193,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,168,927,000 after acquiring an additional 338,452 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Cencora by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,195,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $941,183,000 after acquiring an additional 189,054 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Cencora by 6,855.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,065,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $464,874,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Cencora by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,875,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $422,538,000 after acquiring an additional 67,287 shares during the last quarter. 97.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on COR shares. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Cencora from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Cencora from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Cencora from $287.00 to $292.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Cencora from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. 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 research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.60.

Cencora Stock Performance

Shares of COR stock opened at $227.67 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $44.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.84. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $238.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $234.21. Cencora, Inc. has a 12-month low of $199.37 and a 12-month high of $253.27.

Cencora Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. This is a boost from Cencora’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. Cencora’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 21,509 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.16, for a total value of $5,208,619.44. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 306,752 shares in the company, valued at $74,283,064.32. This represents a 6.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 93,018 shares of company stock worth $22,478,942 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 15.80% of the company’s stock.

Cencora 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.