HM Payson & Co. Acquires New Holdings in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR)

HM Payson & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $708,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new position in Cencora during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,212,508,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD bought a new position in Cencora in the first quarter worth approximately $2,183,619,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought a new position in Cencora in the first quarter worth approximately $1,199,695,000. Boston Partners bought a new position in Cencora in the first quarter worth approximately $1,001,269,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in Cencora in the first quarter worth approximately $650,424,000. Institutional investors own 97.52% of the company’s stock.

Cencora Price Performance

COR traded up $3.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $247.57. 3,292,432 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,217,035. The company has a market cap of $49.38 billion, a PE ratio of 27.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $228.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $231.27. Cencora, Inc. has a 1 year low of $171.65 and a 1 year high of $247.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.93.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $3.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $74.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.32 billion. Cencora had a net margin of 0.65% and a return on equity of 266.60%. Cencora’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.92 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cencora, Inc. will post 13.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cencora Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 26th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. Cencora’s payout ratio is 22.32%.

Insider Activity at Cencora

In other Cencora news, EVP Gina Clark sold 1,874 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.86, for a total transaction of $419,513.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 13,284 shares in the company, valued at $2,973,756.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Cencora news, CEO Steven H. Collis sold 10,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total transaction of $2,388,900.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 285,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,323,746.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Gina Clark sold 1,874 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.86, for a total transaction of $419,513.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,973,756.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,899,112 shares of company stock valued at $408,654,376. Corporate insiders own 15.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Cencora from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. SVB Leerink reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $275.00 price target on shares of Cencora in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Cencora from $236.00 to $249.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Cencora from $285.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Cencora from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.63.

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.