Westpac Banking Corp Reduces Position in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR)

Key Points

• Westpac Banking Corp reduced its holdings in Cencora, Inc. by 10.3%, selling 2,251 shares to own 19,644 shares worth $5.46 million at the end of the reporting period.
• CEO Robert P. Mauch and Chairman Steven H. Collis sold significant amounts of stock recently, with Mauch selling 4,968 shares and Collis 14,578 shares, reducing their ownerships by 10.50% and 4.49%, respectively.
• Cencora announced a quarterly dividend of $0.55, yielding 0.8%, which will be paid on September 3rd to investors recorded as of August 15th.

Westpac Banking Corp trimmed its position in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR - Free Report) by 10.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,644 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,251 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp's holdings in Cencora were worth $5,463,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors 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% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,859,452 shares of the company's stock worth $1,990,542,000 after purchasing an additional 78,066 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in 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 period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Cencora by 42.1% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,607,964 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,281,429,000 after acquiring an additional 1,364,433 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Cencora by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,421,237 shares of the company's stock valued at $544,004,000 after acquiring an additional 252,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Cencora during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $399,508,000. 97.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Cencora

In related news, CEO Robert P. Mauch sold 4,968 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.11, for a total transaction of $1,461,138.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 42,351 shares in the company, valued at $12,455,852.61. This trade represents a 10.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 14,579 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was 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 $91,271,982.06. The trade was a 4.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 34,125 shares of company stock worth $9,993,789. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Cencora from $298.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 target price on shares of Cencora and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Cencora from $314.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup raised 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $354.00 target price on Cencora and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $311.25.

Cencora Price Performance

Shares of COR traded down $1.59 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $293.28. 1,081,838 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,568,989. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.65 and a 12-month high of $309.35. The company has a market cap of $56.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.58. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $292.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $278.74.

Cencora (NYSE:COR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.21. Cencora had a return on equity of 267.36% and a net margin of 0.60%. The firm had revenue of $80.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.34 EPS. Cencora's revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Cencora, Inc. will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Cencora Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Cencora's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.63%.

About Cencora

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.