Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) Plans $0.51 Quarterly Dividend

Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 3rd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.5056 per share on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%.

Cardinal Health has increased its dividend by an average of 1.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 30 consecutive years. Cardinal Health has a payout ratio of 23.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Cardinal Health to earn $8.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.02 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.0%.

Cardinal Health Stock Performance

CAH traded up $1.90 during trading on Monday, reaching $125.56. The company had a trading volume of 3,039,759 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,417,874. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $122.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $114.32. The company has a market cap of $30.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.43, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.63. Cardinal Health has a 12-month low of $93.17 and a 12-month high of $132.84.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.19. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.59% and a negative return on equity of 59.57%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cardinal Health will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAH has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Cardinal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, November 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Cardinal Health from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI raised Cardinal Health from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $127.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cardinal Health has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.64.

About Cardinal Health

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.