Cencora Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:COR)

Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 4,184 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 221% compared to the average daily volume of 1,302 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on COR. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Cencora from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Cencora from $251.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Cencora from $289.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Cencora from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Cencora in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Silvana Battaglia sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.24, for a total value of $1,211,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,374 shares in the company, valued at $3,724,197.76. This represents a 24.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 14,578 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.51, for a total transaction of $3,928,916.78. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 317,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $85,680,732.63. This represents a 4.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,675 shares of company stock worth $8,034,778 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cencora

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Cencora by 0.9% during 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 last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Cencora by 3.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,045,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,810,970,000 after buying an additional 291,867 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Cencora by 62.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,193,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,166,944,000 after buying an additional 1,994,256 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Cencora by 7.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,193,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,168,927,000 after buying an additional 338,452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its holdings in Cencora by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,007,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,128,058,000 after buying an additional 125,611 shares in the last quarter. 97.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cencora Price Performance

COR stock traded up $9.37 during trading on Thursday, hitting $288.88. The stock had a trading volume of 433,587 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,443,526. Cencora has a twelve month low of $214.77 and a twelve month high of $289.58. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $255.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $242.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.40, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.09, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.51.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.50 by $0.23. Cencora had a return on equity of 328.62% and a net margin of 0.46%. As a group, research analysts predict that Cencora will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cencora Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Cencora’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.29%.

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.