Norges Bank Takes $478.31 Million Position in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR)

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 2,128,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $478,309,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hickory Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Cencora in the fourth quarter worth approximately $572,000. Sylvest Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cencora in the 4th quarter valued at $1,105,000. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Cencora by 124.6% in the fourth quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 20,249 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,549,000 after purchasing an additional 11,232 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in Cencora by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 6,245 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,403,000 after buying an additional 1,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its holdings in Cencora by 71.1% during the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 7,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,583,000 after buying an additional 2,928 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cencora

In related news, EVP Elizabeth S. Campbell sold 4,127 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.28, for a total value of $1,107,191.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,934,326.20. The trade was a 21.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Silvana Battaglia sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.24, for a total value of $1,211,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,374 shares in the company, valued at $3,724,197.76. This trade represents a 24.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,675 shares of company stock worth $8,034,778. 10.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cencora Price Performance

Shares of Cencora stock opened at $275.16 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $253.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $241.18. Cencora, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $214.77 and a fifty-two week high of $275.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.40, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $53.36 billion, a PE ratio of 39.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.51.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $3.73 earnings per share 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%. Analysts expect that Cencora, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current year.

Cencora Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Cencora’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on COR shares. StockNews.com raised Cencora from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Cencora from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Cencora from $251.00 to $274.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Cencora in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Cencora from $289.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cencora currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.20.

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.