AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning. The firm issued a strong-buy rating on the stock.

ABC has been the subject of several other reports. TD Cowen increased their price objective on AmerisourceBergen from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of AmerisourceBergen from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of AmerisourceBergen from $200.00 to $212.00 in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of AmerisourceBergen from $174.00 to $192.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th. Finally, 888 reiterated a maintains rating on shares of AmerisourceBergen in a report on Friday, May 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $189.36.

AmerisourceBergen Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:ABC opened at $179.98 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.51. AmerisourceBergen has a 1-year low of $135.14 and a 1-year high of $194.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.28.

AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The company reported $2.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.09. AmerisourceBergen had a net margin of 0.66% and a return on equity of 612.69%. The business had revenue of $66.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that AmerisourceBergen will post 11.92 earnings per share for the current year.

AmerisourceBergen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 11th were issued a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 10th. AmerisourceBergen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AmerisourceBergen

In related news, CEO Steven H. Collis sold 10,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.19, for a total transaction of $1,954,808.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 257,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,030,875.73. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Steven H. Collis sold 10,499 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.19, for a total transaction of $1,954,808.81. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 257,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,030,875.73. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. sold 1,320,858 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total transaction of $249,998,793.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 31,769,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,013,021,971.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,655,881 shares of company stock valued at $310,997,955 in the last 90 days. 20.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ABC. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its stake in AmerisourceBergen by 61.8% during the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 165 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AmerisourceBergen by 321.2% in the 2nd quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. now owns 139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in AmerisourceBergen during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of AmerisourceBergen by 50.9% during the second quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 175 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resources Management Corp CT ADV raised its stake in shares of AmerisourceBergen by 262.1% in the first quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 525 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. 93.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About AmerisourceBergen

AmerisourceBergen Corporation sources and distributes pharmaceutical products. Its U.S. Healthcare Solutions segment distributes brand-name and generic 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.