Cencora (NYSE:COR) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $271.66 and last traded at $271.31, with a volume of 65499 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $268.48.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on COR. Mizuho started coverage on Cencora in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Cencora from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Cencora from $289.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Cencora from $251.00 to $274.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cencora currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.20.

Cencora Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.40, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $52.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $251.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $240.46.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cencora, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cencora Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. Cencora’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert P. Mauch sold 4,970 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total transaction of $1,267,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 51,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,022,850. This represents a 8.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lazarus Krikorian sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.06, for a total transaction of $520,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,154 shares in the company, valued at $5,241,249.24. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,970 shares of company stock worth $2,998,670 over the last ninety days. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cencora

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. 111 Capital bought a new position in shares of Cencora during the fourth quarter worth about $716,000. Members Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Cencora during the 4th quarter worth approximately $348,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cencora by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 2,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $553,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares during the last quarter. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cencora in the fourth quarter worth $136,000. Finally, Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH boosted its holdings in Cencora by 944.6% during the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 19,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,645,000 after purchasing an additional 18,060 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.