Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Cencora (NYSE:COR)

Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 4,184 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 221% compared to the average volume of 1,302 put options.

Cencora Price Performance

Shares of COR traded up $9.37 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $288.88. 433,587 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,443,526. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $255.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $242.06. Cencora has a fifty-two week low of $214.77 and a fifty-two week high of $289.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.02 billion, a PE ratio of 41.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.40.

Cencora (NYSE:COR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.50 by $0.23. Cencora had a return on equity of 328.62% and a net margin of 0.46%. As a group, research analysts predict that Cencora will post 15.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cencora Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Cencora’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Cencora from $251.00 to $274.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Cencora from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Cencora from $289.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Cencora from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on Cencora in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cencora currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cencora

In other Cencora news, CAO Lazarus Krikorian sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.06, for a total transaction of $520,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,241,249.24. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 14,578 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.51, for a total value of $3,928,916.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 317,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $85,680,732.63. This trade represents a 4.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,675 shares of company stock worth $8,034,778 in the last ninety days. 10.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cencora

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in COR. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cencora by 63.0% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 119 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in shares of Cencora in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Cencora in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC raised its stake in shares of Cencora by 85.2% in the 4th quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC now owns 150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Cencora during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. 97.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.