LPL Financial LLC Has $64.22 Million Stake in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Cencora, Inc. by 22.3%, owning 230,917 shares worth approximately $64.22 million by the end of the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their holdings in Cencora, with 97.52% of the stock owned by institutional investors.
• A range of analysts have raised their target prices for Cencora shares, with the average price target now at $309.83, suggesting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR - Free Report) by 22.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 230,917 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 42,089 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.12% of Cencora worth $64,216,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Cencora by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,859,452 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,990,542,000 after buying an additional 78,066 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Cencora by 62.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,193,807 shares of the company's stock worth $1,166,944,000 after purchasing an additional 1,994,256 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cencora by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,326,064 shares of the company's stock worth $969,471,000 after purchasing an additional 130,213 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Cencora by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,243,531 shares of the company's stock valued at $728,757,000 after purchasing an additional 550,246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Cencora by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,421,237 shares of the company's stock worth $544,004,000 after buying an additional 252,028 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.52% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Cencora

In other news, CEO Robert P. Mauch sold 4,968 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.11, for a total value of $1,461,138.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 42,351 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,455,852.61. This trade represents a 10.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 14,578 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was 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 approximately $90,702,237.71. This represents a 4.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,125 shares of company stock valued at $9,993,789 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on COR. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Cencora from $314.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America increased their price target on Cencora from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Cencora from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $274.00 to $337.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 target price on shares of Cencora and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cencora has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $309.83.

Cencora Stock Up 0.8%

COR traded up $2.23 during trading on Friday, reaching $288.31. 1,140,211 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 941,703. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $292.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $276.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.01, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.52. Cencora, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $218.65 and a fifty-two week high of $309.35. The stock has a market cap of $55.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.57.

Cencora (NYSE:COR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $4.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.07 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $75.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.41 billion. Cencora had a net margin of 0.55% and a return on equity of 344.71%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cencora, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current year.

Cencora Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Cencora's payout ratio is currently 25.52%.

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.