William Blair Investment Management LLC Purchases Shares of 2,775 Cencora, Inc. $COR

William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $785,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Cencora during the 4th quarter worth about $16,487,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Cencora in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,170,000. SEB Asset Management AB bought a new position in shares of Cencora in the first quarter worth about $134,139,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in shares of Cencora during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,145,000. Finally, Summit Global Investments acquired a new position in shares of Cencora during the second quarter worth approximately $2,283,000. 97.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on COR shares. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Cencora in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Cencora in a report on Wednesday. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $330.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Cencora from $331.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen raised Cencora from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Cencora from $280.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $370.85.

Cencora Trading Down 0.0%

COR opened at $317.89 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $302.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $311.52. Cencora, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $244.82 and a fifty-two week high of $377.54. The company has a market cap of $60.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.53, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.35 by $0.13. Cencora had a net margin of 0.79% and a return on equity of 125.45%. The firm had revenue of $84.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.31 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cencora, Inc. will post 17.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Cencora Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Cencora’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.83%.

Cencora declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Lauren M. Tyler acquired 550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $270.23 per share, with a total value of $148,626.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 4,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,177,932.57. This trade represents a 14.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Cencora

Cencora (NYSE:COR) is a global healthcare services and pharmaceutical distribution company that provides end-to-end solutions across the pharmaceutical supply chain. The company’s core activities include wholesale drug distribution, specialty drug distribution, and the operation of specialty pharmacies, complemented by logistics, cold-chain management and other fulfillment services designed to support complex and temperature-sensitive therapies.

Beyond physical distribution, Cencora offers a range of commercial and patient-focused services for pharmaceutical manufacturers and healthcare providers.