StockNews.com Downgrades Cencora (NYSE:COR) to Buy

Cencora (NYSE:COR) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Friday.

COR has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $245.00 price target (down previously from $275.00) on shares of Cencora in a report on Wednesday. Leerink Partners reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $275.00 target price on shares of Cencora in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Cencora from $236.00 to $249.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Cencora from $280.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Cencora from $287.00 to $283.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $256.67.

Cencora Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of COR stock opened at $228.11 on Friday. Cencora has a fifty-two week low of $178.21 and a fifty-two week high of $247.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.93, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $234.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $233.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.44.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $3.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.16. Cencora had a net margin of 0.65% and a return on equity of 266.60%. The firm had revenue of $74.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.32 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.92 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Cencora will post 13.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. sold 4,438,171 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.56, for a total value of $1,067,646,415.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,980,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,806,388,800. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Steven H. Collis sold 10,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.12, for a total transaction of $2,388,900.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 285,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,323,746.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. sold 4,438,171 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.56, for a total transaction of $1,067,646,415.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,980,000 shares in the company, valued at $4,806,388,800. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 4,450,399 shares of company stock valued at $1,070,392,799. Company insiders own 15.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cencora

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. acquired a new position in Cencora during the 4th quarter worth $4,212,508,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD purchased a new position in shares of Cencora in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,183,619,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Cencora during the first quarter worth about $1,199,695,000. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Cencora during the first quarter worth approximately $1,001,269,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in Cencora in the first quarter valued at approximately $650,424,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.52% of the company’s stock.

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.