Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.51 Per Share

Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 15th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be given a dividend of 0.506 per share on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. This is an increase from Cardinal Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51.

Cardinal Health has raised its dividend by an average of 1.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 28 consecutive years. Cardinal Health has a payout ratio of 26.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Cardinal Health to earn $7.55 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 26.8%.

Cardinal Health Stock Up 1.8 %

Cardinal Health stock traded up $1.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $109.85. The company had a trading volume of 2,452,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,154,872. The firm has a market cap of $26.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.84, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50 day moving average of $99.38 and a 200-day moving average of $103.23. Cardinal Health has a 52 week low of $85.11 and a 52 week high of $116.04.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $59.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.74 billion. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.25% and a negative return on equity of 54.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Cardinal Health will post 7.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cardinal Health from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI lifted their target price 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $130.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cardinal Health has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.45.

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.