Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Thursday morning.

CAH has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $115.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $115.00 to $107.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $130.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cardinal Health currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $119.36.

Cardinal Health Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:CAH opened at $111.93 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $110.76 and a 200-day moving average of $104.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.60. Cardinal Health has a twelve month low of $90.19 and a twelve month high of $116.05.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $59.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.74 billion. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.37% and a negative return on equity of 54.85%. Cardinal Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Cardinal Health will post 7.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a $0.506 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. This is a boost from Cardinal Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jessica L. Mayer sold 16,573 shares of Cardinal Health stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.39, for a total transaction of $1,812,920.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 75,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,310,467.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Jessica L. Mayer sold 16,573 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.39, for a total transaction of $1,812,920.47. Following the sale, the insider now owns 75,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,310,467.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jessica L. Mayer sold 17,896 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.48, for a total transaction of $1,905,566.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 94,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,065,447.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,963 shares of company stock worth $12,379,980 over the last ninety days. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cardinal Health

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Tobam lifted its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 773.4% in the 1st quarter. Tobam now owns 49,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,496,000 after acquiring an additional 43,488 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its position in Cardinal Health by 101.1% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 321,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,010,000 after purchasing an additional 161,656 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its position in Cardinal Health by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 314,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,160,000 after purchasing an additional 15,663 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its position in Cardinal Health by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 393,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,016,000 after purchasing an additional 6,752 shares during the period. Finally, Alpha Cubed Investments LLC purchased a new position in Cardinal Health in the 3rd quarter worth $371,000. 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.