Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $126.24 and last traded at $126.02, with a volume of 399121 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $124.71.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CAH shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Cardinal Health from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI upgraded Cardinal Health from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cardinal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $117.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.29.

Cardinal Health Stock Up 1.6 %

The stock has a market cap of $30.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $120.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $111.50.

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

Cardinal Health Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a $0.5056 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Cardinal Health’s payout ratio is presently 39.30%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cardinal Health

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Cardinal Health during the second quarter valued at approximately $90,440,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake 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 valued at $1,566,913,000 after purchasing an additional 627,253 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 9.9% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,099,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $403,022,000 after buying an additional 370,181 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in Cardinal Health by 47.9% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,069,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $118,197,000 after buying an additional 346,362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in Cardinal Health by 230.0% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 477,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,819,000 after buying an additional 333,095 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

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.