Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fifteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $134.64.

CAH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Cardinal Health from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Mizuho initiated coverage on Cardinal Health in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $139.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Cardinal Health from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Cardinal Health from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Cardinal Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $144.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th.

Cardinal Health Stock Down 2.4 %

Cardinal Health stock opened at $127.59 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $113.66. The company has a market cap of $30.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.63. Cardinal Health has a 52-week low of $93.17 and a 52-week high of $131.29.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $52.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.90 billion. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 56.56% and a net margin of 0.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.73 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Cardinal Health will post 7.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.5056 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.30%.

Institutional Trading of Cardinal Health

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,177,641 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,566,913,000 after acquiring an additional 627,253 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,749,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $633,298,000 after purchasing an additional 42,082 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,290,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $474,203,000 after purchasing an additional 191,568 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,474,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,976,000 after purchasing an additional 33,388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,315,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,439,000 after purchasing an additional 121,107 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cardinal Health Company Profile

Cardinal Health, Inc operates as a healthcare services and products company in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and internationally. It provides customized solutions for hospitals, healthcare systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories, physician offices, and patients in the home.