Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Purchases New Shares in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund acquired a new position in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,464 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,328,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems purchased a new position in Cencora during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,055,000. Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Cencora during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,854,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD purchased a new position in Cencora during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,183,619,000. BOKF NA purchased a new position in Cencora during the 1st quarter valued at about $260,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Cencora during the 1st quarter valued at about $90,298,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.52% of the company’s stock.

Cencora Stock Performance

Shares of COR stock traded up $0.81 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $228.43. The company had a trading volume of 196,170 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,354,621. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $226.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.70. Cencora, Inc. has a one year low of $171.65 and a one year high of $246.75. The firm has a market cap of $45.56 billion, a PE ratio of 24.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.41, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.15. Cencora had a net margin of 0.67% and a return on equity of 268.67%. The firm had revenue of $68.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Cencora, Inc. will post 13.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cencora Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. Cencora’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.32%.

Insider Activity at Cencora

In related news, major shareholder Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. sold 1,859,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.12, for a total transaction of $399,991,976.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,418,171 shares in the company, valued at $5,252,836,945.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, major shareholder Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. sold 1,859,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.12, for a total transaction of $399,991,976.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,418,171 shares in the company, valued at $5,252,836,945.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Dermot Mark Durcan bought 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $218.58 per share, with a total value of $109,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,781,656.08. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,899,112 shares of company stock worth $408,654,376. 15.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on COR. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Cencora from $280.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. SVB Leerink reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $275.00 price target on shares of Cencora in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Cencora from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Cencora from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.78.

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.