Cencora (NYSE:COR) Shares Up 3.5% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) shot up 3.5% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $289.74 and last traded at $289.39. 1,629,436 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 3% from the average session volume of 1,586,762 shares. The stock had previously closed at $279.51.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Cencora from $251.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Cencora from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI raised 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on 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 issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.20.

Cencora Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $257.28 and a 200-day moving average of $242.65. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $54.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.73, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.51.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.50 by $0.23. Cencora had a return on equity of 328.62% and a net margin of 0.46%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cencora, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current year.

Cencora Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Cencora’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.29%.

Insider Transactions at Cencora

In other Cencora news, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 14,578 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.51, for a total value of $3,928,916.78. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 317,913 shares in the company, valued at $85,680,732.63. This trade represents a 4.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Lazarus Krikorian sold 2,000 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.06, for a total value of $520,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,154 shares in the company, valued at $5,241,249.24. The trade was a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,675 shares of company stock valued at $8,034,778 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cencora

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cencora during the 4th quarter valued at $478,309,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Cencora by 62.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,193,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,166,944,000 after purchasing an additional 1,994,256 shares during the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cencora in the fourth quarter valued at about $399,508,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cencora during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $322,460,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Cencora by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,243,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $728,757,000 after purchasing an additional 550,246 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.52% of the company’s stock.

Cencora Company 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.