Wakefield Asset Management LLLP Takes $1.95 Million Position in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR)

Wakefield Asset Management LLLP acquired a new stake in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 8,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,945,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Cencora during the fourth quarter worth about $4,212,508,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Cencora during the first quarter worth about $291,825,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Cencora during the first quarter worth about $238,457,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Cencora during the first quarter worth about $75,916,000. Finally, Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Cencora during the first quarter worth about $73,653,000. 97.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Steven H. Collis sold 10,754 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.48, for a total value of $2,553,859.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 285,088 shares in the company, valued at $67,702,698.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Steven H. Collis sold 10,754 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.48, for a total transaction of $2,553,859.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 285,088 shares in the company, valued at $67,702,698.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Dermot Mark Durcan acquired 500 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $218.58 per share, for a total transaction of $109,290.00. Following the transaction, the director now 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. Insiders have sold a total of 1,956,675 shares of company stock worth $422,352,056 over the last quarter. 15.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on COR. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Cencora from $275.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Cencora from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. SVB Leerink reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $275.00 price objective on shares of Cencora in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Cencora from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.30.

Cencora Price Performance

Shares of NYSE COR traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $222.68. The stock had a trading volume of 830,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,547,650. The company has a market capitalization of $44.41 billion, a PE ratio of 24.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $227.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $228.74. Cencora, Inc. has a 1 year low of $171.65 and a 1 year high of $246.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.41.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $68.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. Cencora had a return on equity of 268.67% and a net margin of 0.67%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.50 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cencora, Inc. will post 13.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cencora Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th were given a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Cencora’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.32%.

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.