Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Raises Position in Cencora, Inc. $COR

Key Points

• Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec increased its stake in Cencora, Inc. by 144.4% in the first quarter, acquiring an additional 439,008 shares and holding $206,641,000 worth of the stock.
• Multiple research firms have raised their price targets for Cencora, with the average target now at $311.25 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Cencora reported earnings of $4.00 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates and showing an 8.7% year-over-year revenue increase.

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its position in shares of Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR - Free Report) by 144.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 743,072 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 439,008 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned about 0.38% of Cencora worth $206,641,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COR. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cencora by 4.5% during the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the company's stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cencora by 6.4% during the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 1,535 shares of the company's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cencora by 57.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,748 shares of the company's stock worth $1,598,000 after buying an additional 2,087 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cencora by 157.6% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 170 shares of the company's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Cencora by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 82,952 shares of the company's stock worth $18,638,000 after buying an additional 4,126 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.52% of the company's stock.

Cencora Price Performance

Shares of COR stock traded down $0.53 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $290.03. 1,058,447 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,419,257. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $293.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $281.58. Cencora, Inc. has a 1-year low of $218.65 and a 1-year high of $309.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.64, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $56.23 billion, a PE ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.58.

Cencora (NYSE:COR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.21. Cencora had a net margin of 0.60% and a return on equity of 267.36%. The company had revenue of $80.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.34 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.34 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cencora, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cencora Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Cencora's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on COR. Citigroup raised their price target on Cencora from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Cencora from $337.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Cencora from $314.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Cencora from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 target price on Cencora and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cencora currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $311.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cencora news, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 14,578 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.67, for a total transaction of $4,266,543.26. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 309,913 shares of the company's stock, valued at $90,702,237.71. This trade represents a 4.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Robert P. Mauch sold 4,968 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were 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 $12,455,852.61. The trade was a 10.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 34,125 shares of company stock worth $9,993,789. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

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.