Cencora Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:COR)

Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 3,149 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 122% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,416 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cencora

In related news, CEO Robert P. Mauch sold 5,096 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $366.64, for a total value of $1,868,397.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,105,113.44. This represents a 7.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 31,350 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.86, for a total value of $9,087,111.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 305,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $88,671,942.18. This trade represents a 9.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 46,640 shares of company stock worth $14,099,338. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cencora

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cencora by 70.0% during the second quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 85 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Cencora in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Cencora in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Cencora during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC acquired a new stake in Cencora in the third quarter worth $31,000. 97.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on COR. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Cencora from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Cencora from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Cencora from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Cencora from $355.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Cencora from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.09.

Cencora Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:COR traded up $0.71 on Thursday, hitting $336.02. 218,122 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,545,596. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.32, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $338.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $308.96. Cencora has a one year low of $223.92 and a one year high of $377.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.26, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.63.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.05. Cencora had a return on equity of 227.15% and a net margin of 0.48%.The company had revenue of $83.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $83.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.34 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Cencora has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.450-17.75 EPS. Research analysts expect that Cencora will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Cencora Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Cencora’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. Cencora’s payout ratio is currently 30.19%.

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.