Invesco Ltd. Increases Stake in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR)

Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) by 20.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,243,531 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 550,246 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Cencora were worth $728,757,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in COR. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cencora during the fourth quarter valued at $478,309,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Cencora in the 4th quarter worth about $322,460,000. Amundi lifted its stake in Cencora by 30.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,338,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $318,385,000 after acquiring an additional 314,846 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Cencora by 40.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,077,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $243,173,000 after acquiring an additional 308,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cencora by 43.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 862,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,818,000 after acquiring an additional 262,823 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.52% of the company’s stock.

Cencora Price Performance

Shares of Cencora stock opened at $274.60 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $53.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.55. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $257.67 and its 200 day moving average is $243.14. Cencora, Inc. has a one year low of $214.77 and a one year high of $296.65.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $3.73 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cencora, Inc. will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Cencora Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Cencora’s payout ratio is currently 31.29%.

Insider Transactions at Cencora

In related news, CAO Lazarus Krikorian sold 2,000 shares of the company’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,241,249.24. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 14,578 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 317,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $85,680,732.63. This represents a 4.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on COR shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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. StockNews.com raised Cencora from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Cencora from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock 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 company an “overweight” rating in a research 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.20.

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.