Birch Capital Management LLC Purchases 429 Shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH)

Birch Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 28,822 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 429 shares during the period. Cardinal Health makes up about 1.7% of Birch Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Birch Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $3,409,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CAH. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 19,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,341,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 129,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,263,000 after buying an additional 11,847 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic raised its position in Cardinal Health by 42.0% in the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 14,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,679,000 after buying an additional 4,200 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Cardinal Health by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 22,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,659,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First City Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Cardinal Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cardinal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 3rd. Mizuho assumed coverage on Cardinal Health in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $139.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America upgraded Cardinal Health from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $132.00 to $145.00 in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Cardinal Health from $127.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Cardinal Health from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $101.00 to $127.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.77.

Cardinal Health Stock Performance

NYSE:CAH traded up $2.27 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $121.90. 1,038,763 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,738,958. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a one year low of $93.17 and a one year high of $126.23. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $118.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $110.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.50 billion, a PE ratio of 23.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.63.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 56.56% and a net margin of 0.56%. The firm had revenue of $52.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.73 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.82 EPS for the current year.

Cardinal Health Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a $0.5056 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.30%.

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.