Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Makes New $16.37 Million Investment in Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 67,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,373,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new position in Cencora during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,212,508,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cencora during the 1st quarter worth approximately $66,911,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Cencora in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,339,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cencora in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $45,692,000. Finally, Pensioenfonds Rail & OV acquired a new stake in Cencora in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $37,371,000. 97.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cencora Stock Down 4.0 %

NYSE COR traded down $9.39 during trading on Thursday, hitting $227.89. 4,208,411 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,390,904. Cencora, Inc. has a 12 month low of $171.65 and a 12 month high of $246.75. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $229.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $227.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.41. The company has a market capitalization of $45.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.76, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.48.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $68.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. Cencora had a return on equity of 268.67% and a net margin of 0.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cencora, Inc. will post 13.44 EPS for the current year.

Cencora Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. Cencora’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Cencora from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Citigroup raised their price objective on Cencora from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Cencora from $275.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, SVB Leerink reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $275.00 price objective on shares of Cencora in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Gina Clark sold 1,874 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.86, for a total transaction of $419,513.64. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,973,756.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Gina Clark sold 1,874 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.86, for a total transaction of $419,513.64. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,973,756.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. sold 1,859,390 shares of Cencora stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.12, for a total value of $399,991,976.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,418,171 shares in the company, valued at $5,252,836,945.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,956,675 shares of company stock valued at $422,352,056 over the last three months. 15.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.