Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) Short Interest Up 6.1% in August

Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) saw a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,520,000 shares, an increase of 6.1% from the August 15th total of 8,970,000 shares. Approximately 5.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,410,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COR has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Cencora from $280.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective (down from $275.00) on shares of Cencora in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Cencora from $236.00 to $249.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Leerink Partners reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $275.00 price objective on shares of Cencora in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Cencora from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $256.67.

Insider Activity at Cencora

In related news, major shareholder Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. sold 4,438,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,806,388,800. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Cencora news, major shareholder Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. sold 4,438,171 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,980,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,806,388,800. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Silvana Battaglia sold 1,473 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.69, for a total value of $357,482.37. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,948 shares in the company, valued at $2,656,970.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,450,399 shares of company stock valued at $1,070,392,799 in the last 90 days. 15.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cencora

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in COR. Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of Cencora by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 978 shares of the company’s stock worth $220,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cencora by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $499,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cencora by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cencora by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 1,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cencora by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 1,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. 97.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cencora Stock Down 0.2 %

Cencora stock traded down $0.44 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $228.04. The stock had a trading volume of 148,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,370,130. Cencora has a 12 month low of $178.21 and a 12 month high of $247.66. The company has a market capitalization of $45.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.00, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $234.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $233.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.93.

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

Cencora Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. Cencora’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.32%.

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.