Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases 3,146 Shares of Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR - Free Report) by 47.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,749 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,146 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Cencora were worth $2,711,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of COR. Hickory Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Cencora in the fourth quarter valued at about $572,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Cencora by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 6,245 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,403,000 after buying an additional 1,995 shares in the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC boosted its stake in Cencora by 76.9% in the fourth quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 11,032 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,479,000 after buying an additional 4,794 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its stake in Cencora by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 28,575 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,420,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Latitude Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cencora in the fourth quarter valued at about $559,000. 97.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cencora Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of COR stock opened at $287.91 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $55.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.95, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $286.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $259.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.40, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.92. Cencora, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $218.65 and a fifty-two week high of $309.35.

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

Cencora Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Cencora's payout ratio is currently 25.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cencora news, EVP Elizabeth S. Campbell sold 4,127 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.28, for a total value of $1,107,191.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,665 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,934,326.20. This trade represents a 21.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lazarus Krikorian sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.06, for a total value of $520,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,154 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,241,249.24. This trade represents a 9.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 40,253 shares of company stock worth $11,102,417. 10.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on COR. Bank of America lifted their price target on Cencora from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Cencora from $314.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Cencora from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Cencora from $298.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Cencora from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $306.91.

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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