Brokerages Set Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) Price Target at $218.22

Shares of Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $218.22.

Several research firms have issued reports on COR. Leerink Partnrs reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Cencora in a research report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cencora from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Cencora in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $242.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Cencora from $192.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, SVB Leerink started coverage on shares of Cencora in a report on Monday, February 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $261.00 price objective for the company.

Cencora Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE COR opened at $238.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $47.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $237.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $213.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.94, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.88. Cencora has a 52-week low of $163.37 and a 52-week high of $246.75.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The company reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.42. Cencora had a net margin of 0.69% and a return on equity of 323.23%. The business had revenue of $72.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Cencora will post 13.43 EPS for the current year.

Cencora Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. This is a positive change from Cencora’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Cencora’s payout ratio is currently 22.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. sold 4,212,395 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.41, for a total value of $991,639,906.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,277,561 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,186,000,635.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. sold 4,212,395 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.41, for a total value of $991,639,906.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,277,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,186,000,635.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gina Clark sold 1,100 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.48, for a total transaction of $253,528.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,802 shares in the company, valued at $5,716,364.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,220,472 shares of company stock worth $993,554,798 in the last quarter. 15.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cencora

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cencora in the 4th quarter worth about $4,212,508,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Cencora by 2,004.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,171,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $691,225,000 after purchasing an additional 3,973,094 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cencora during the fourth quarter worth about $261,294,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Cencora by 42.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,079,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,717,000 after buying an additional 618,248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in Cencora by 903.4% in the second quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 679,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,662,000 after buying an additional 611,339 shares in the last quarter. 97.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.