Cencora Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:COR)

Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 3,149 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 122% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,416 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on COR shares. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Cencora from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Cencora from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Cencora from $355.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Cencora from $354.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Cencora from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cencora has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert P. Mauch sold 5,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.80, for a total transaction of $1,665,699.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 37,940 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,398,792. This trade represents a 11.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 31,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.86, for a total value of $9,087,111.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 305,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $88,671,942.18. The trade was a 9.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 46,640 shares of company stock valued at $14,099,338. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cencora

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Cencora during the second quarter worth about $695,215,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Cencora by 518.9% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,995,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $623,534,000 after purchasing an additional 1,672,762 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cencora by 116.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 212,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,506,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511,906 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new stake in Cencora during the second quarter worth approximately $411,888,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Cencora by 42.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,607,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,281,429,000 after buying an additional 1,364,433 shares during the last quarter. 97.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cencora Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE COR traded up $0.71 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $336.02. The company had a trading volume of 218,122 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,545,596. Cencora has a 12 month low of $223.92 and a 12 month high of $377.54. The stock has a market cap of $65.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.26, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.32, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $338.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $308.96.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $83.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $83.36 billion. Cencora had a return on equity of 227.15% and a net margin of 0.48%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.34 earnings per share. Cencora has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.450-17.75 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cencora will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Cencora Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. This is a positive change from Cencora’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. Cencora’s payout ratio is currently 30.19%.

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.