Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Takes $80.36 Million Position in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR)

Key Points

• Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in Cencora, Inc., purchasing 288,969 shares valued at approximately $80.36 million.
• Insiders, including CEO Robert P. Mauch and Chairman Steven H. Collis, sold significant portions of their shares, indicating a decrease in their stakes in the company.
• Several analysts have upgraded their price targets for Cencora, with UBS lifting its target from $298 to $335 and the current consensus suggesting a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $309.83.

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in shares of Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 288,969 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $80,359,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned 0.15% of Cencora as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its holdings in Cencora by 106.7% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 93 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Hoey Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cencora in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new position in shares of Cencora in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cencora in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Cencora during the first quarter worth about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.52% of the company's stock.

Cencora Trading Up 2.5%

Cencora stock traded up $7.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $285.44. The stock had a trading volume of 518,376 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,566,836. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.64. The firm has a market cap of $55.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.58. Cencora, Inc. has a 52-week low of $218.65 and a 52-week high of $309.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $292.63 and a 200 day moving average of $277.30.

Cencora (NYSE:COR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $4.00 earnings per share (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 analysts' expectations of $80.34 billion. Cencora had a return on equity of 267.36% and a net margin of 0.60%. Cencora's revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.34 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Cencora, Inc. will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cencora Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Cencora's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on COR shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on Cencora from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Cencora from $298.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Cencora from $314.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 target price on shares of Cencora and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Cencora from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $274.00 to $337.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $309.83.

Insider Activity

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 transaction of $1,461,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 42,351 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,455,852.61. The trade was a 10.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 14,579 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.62, for a total value of $4,266,106.98. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 311,913 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $91,271,982.06. This trade 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 worth $9,993,789 in the last ninety days. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.