Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 252,992 Shares of Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) by 1,275.2% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 272,832 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 252,992 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Cencora were worth $75,872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Cencora during the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. Savant Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Cencora by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 7,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,643,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC grew its stake in Cencora by 76.9% in the fourth quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 11,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,479,000 after purchasing an additional 4,794 shares during the period. Schear Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Cencora by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 6,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Certuity LLC bought a new position in Cencora in the fourth quarter worth $295,000. 97.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cencora

In related news, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 14,579 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.81, for a total value of $4,108,507.99. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 315,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,027,442.53. This trade represents a 4.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth S. Campbell sold 4,127 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.28, for a total transaction of $1,107,191.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,934,326.20. This represents a 21.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,253 shares of company stock valued at $10,582,297 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Cencora Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE COR opened at $286.34 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $286.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $260.98. Cencora, Inc. has a 52-week low of $218.65 and a 52-week high of $309.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.40, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $55.50 billion, a PE ratio of 40.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.58.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $4.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.07 by $0.35. Cencora had a return on equity of 328.62% and a net margin of 0.46%. The business had revenue of $75.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.80 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cencora, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cencora Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Cencora’s payout ratio is currently 25.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on COR shares. Morgan Stanley set a $288.00 target price on shares of Cencora in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cencora from $298.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Cencora from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Cencora from $314.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Cencora from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $274.00 to $337.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cencora presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $306.91.

Cencora 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.