Cencora (NYSE:COR) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cencora (NYSE:COR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Wednesday morning.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on COR. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Cencora from $237.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Cencora from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Cencora in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Cencora from $289.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.20.

Cencora Trading Up 0.8 %

COR stock opened at $258.09 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.51. Cencora has a twelve month low of $214.77 and a twelve month high of $263.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.40. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $247.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $239.09.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts anticipate that Cencora will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Cencora Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. Cencora’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Silvana Battaglia sold 1,678 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.72, for a total value of $383,792.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,649,648.88. This represents a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Lazarus Krikorian sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.06, for a total transaction of $520,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,241,249.24. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,648 shares of company stock worth $3,382,462. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cencora

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hickory Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Cencora in the 4th quarter worth approximately $572,000. Sylvest Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cencora in the 4th quarter valued at $1,105,000. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC grew its stake in Cencora by 124.6% in the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 20,249 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,549,000 after acquiring an additional 11,232 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Cencora by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 39,457 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,881,000 after purchasing an additional 3,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Cencora by 46.9% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 6,245 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,403,000 after purchasing an additional 1,995 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.52% of the company’s stock.

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.