Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Raises Stake in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR)

Key Points

• Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in Cencora, Inc. by 9.9% during the first quarter, holding 18,891 shares valued at $5,253,000.
• Institutional ownership is significant, with 97.52% of Cencora's stock owned by investors and hedge funds, reflecting strong institutional interest.
• Analysts have raised price targets for Cencora, with Citigroup increasing its target from $330 to $355, and a consensus target price of $309.83.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR - Free Report) by 9.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,891 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,709 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Cencora were worth $5,253,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Cencora by 62.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,193,807 shares of the company's stock worth $1,166,944,000 after buying an additional 1,994,256 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cencora during the fourth quarter worth $399,508,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Cencora by 43,561.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,598,461 shares of the company's stock worth $444,516,000 after buying an additional 1,594,800 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Cencora by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,243,531 shares of the company's stock worth $728,757,000 after buying an additional 550,246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Close Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Cencora during the first quarter worth $110,629,000. 97.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cencora

In other Cencora news, CEO Robert P. Mauch sold 4,968 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.11, for a total transaction of $1,461,138.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 42,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,455,852.61. This trade represents a 10.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 14,579 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.62, for a total value of $4,266,106.98. Following the sale, the chairman owned 311,913 shares in the company, valued at $91,271,982.06. This trade represents a 4.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 34,125 shares of company stock worth $9,993,789. Insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on COR shares. Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 target price on shares of Cencora and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Cencora from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Cencora from $314.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Cencora from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Cencora from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $309.83.

Cencora Price Performance

Shares of NYSE COR traded down $0.87 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $290.94. The company had a trading volume of 242,533 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,568,015. Cencora, Inc. has a one year low of $218.65 and a one year high of $309.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.01, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.87. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $293.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $275.35. The firm has a market cap of $56.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.81, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.57.

Cencora (NYSE:COR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $4.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.07 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $75.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $75.41 billion. Cencora had a return on equity of 344.71% and a net margin of 0.55%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.80 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Cencora, Inc. will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cencora Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. Cencora's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.52%.

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.