William Blair Investment Management LLC Raises Stake in Cencora, Inc. $COR

William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) by 4,778.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 37,665 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 36,893 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Cencora were worth $11,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 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 during the last quarter. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new stake in Cencora during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in Cencora during the first quarter valued at about $39,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cencora by 157.6% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cencora during the first quarter valued at about $48,000. 97.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on COR shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Cencora from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Cencora and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Cencora from $337.00 to $354.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Cencora from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cencora in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.91.

Cencora Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Cencora stock opened at $327.56 on Tuesday. Cencora, Inc. has a 12-month low of $223.92 and a 12-month high of $329.58. The company has a market cap of $63.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.70, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.64. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $301.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $293.60.

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

Cencora Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Cencora’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert P. Mauch sold 5,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total value of $1,478,130.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 39,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,389,460. This trade represents a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 31,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.86, for a total transaction of $9,087,111.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 305,913 shares in the company, valued at $88,671,942.18. This represents a 9.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 10.80% 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.