Merit Financial Group LLC Grows Stake in Cencora, Inc. $COR

Key Points

• Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Cencora, Inc. by 34.8%, holding a total of 13,141 shares valued at approximately $3.94 million as of the end of the second quarter.
• Numerous institutional investors have recently adjusted their positions in Cencora, with ownership by institutional investors and hedge funds reaching 97.52% of the company's stock.
• Cencora reported earnings of $4.00 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, along with an 8.7% increase in revenue compared to the previous year.

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR - Free Report) by 34.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,141 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,392 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Cencora were worth $3,940,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its stake in Cencora by 106.7% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 93 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Hoey Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cencora during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Cencora in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in Cencora in the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Cencora by 157.6% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 170 shares of the company's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.52% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 price target on shares of Cencora and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Cencora in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Cencora from $337.00 to $354.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $314.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cencora

In other news, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 31,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.86, for a total transaction of $9,087,111.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 305,913 shares of the company's stock, valued at $88,671,942.18. This represents a 9.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert P. Mauch sold 5,097 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total value of $1,478,130.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 39,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,389,460. This represents a 11.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 55,993 shares of company stock valued at $16,292,923. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Cencora Price Performance

Shares of COR opened at $305.32 on Tuesday. The business's 50-day moving average is $295.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $290.68. The company has a market capitalization of $59.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.63. Cencora, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $218.65 and a fifty-two week high of $315.23. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $4.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $80.66 billion for 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%.The company's revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.34 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Cencora, Inc. will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Cencora Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Cencora's payout ratio 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.

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