Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Increases Position in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR - Free Report) by 61.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,375 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,574 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Cencora were worth $2,106,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Armis Advisers LLC bought a new position in Cencora in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $307,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in Cencora in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Ascent Group LLC grew its holdings in Cencora by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,822 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,989 shares during the period. Aurdan Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cencora in the fourth quarter worth $8,429,000. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Cencora during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. 97.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cencora Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Cencora stock traded up $0.80 on Friday, hitting $291.49. 3,890,003 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,537,835. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $284.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $258.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.50 billion, a PE ratio of 41.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.40, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Cencora, Inc. has a one year low of $218.65 and a one year high of $309.35.

Cencora (NYSE:COR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $4.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.07 by $0.35. Cencora had a return on equity of 328.62% and a net margin of 0.46%. The company had revenue of $75.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.41 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.80 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Cencora, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cencora Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Cencora's payout ratio is 25.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cencora

In other Cencora news, CEO Robert P. Mauch sold 4,970 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total value of $1,267,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 51,070 shares in the company, valued at $13,022,850. This represents a 8.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 14,579 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.81, for a total transaction of $4,108,507.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 315,913 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $89,027,442.53. This trade represents a 4.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,223 shares of company stock worth $12,369,767. Insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on COR. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Cencora from $314.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Cencora from $298.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Cencora from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Cencora from $251.00 to $274.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $288.00 price target on Cencora in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $301.18.

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.