Ascent Group LLC Grows Stock Position in Cencora, Inc. $COR

Key Points

• Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in Cencora, Inc. ($COR) by 42.7% during the first quarter, holding shares valued at $3.5 million.
• Cencora reported $4.00 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations and showing an 8.7% year-over-year revenue increase.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 0.7% and a payout ratio of 22.63%.

Ascent Group LLC grew its stake in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR - Free Report) by 42.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,586 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,764 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in Cencora were worth $3,500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in shares of Cencora by 106.7% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 93 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Hoey Investments Inc. acquired a new position in Cencora during the first quarter worth $28,000. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Cencora in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cencora in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in Cencora during the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. 97.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 42,351 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,455,852.61. This represents a 10.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 14,579 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at $91,271,982.06. This represents a 4.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,125 shares of company stock valued at $9,993,789 in the last three months. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on COR shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Cencora from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cencora from $337.00 to $354.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 price target on shares of 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 given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cencora has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $311.25.

Cencora Stock Performance

COR traded up $0.03 during trading on Friday, reaching $302.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,189,360 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,548,841. The company has a market capitalization of $58.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.62. The company's fifty day moving average price is $293.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $285.14. Cencora, Inc. has a 52-week low of $218.65 and a 52-week high of $309.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.64, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.90.

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

Cencora Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Cencora's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.63%.

Cencora 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.