Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $138.40.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Cardinal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Cardinal Health from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Cardinal Health from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Cardinal Health from $142.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Cardinal Health from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cardinal Health

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 627,253 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,859,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $691,145,000 after purchasing an additional 109,273 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 4.7% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,290,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $474,203,000 after purchasing an additional 191,568 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,182,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,396,000 after purchasing an additional 140,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 154.6% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,151,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $372,756,000 after purchasing an additional 1,913,892 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Cardinal Health Stock Performance

NYSE:CAH opened at $126.96 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $117.21. The stock has a market cap of $30.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.63. Cardinal Health has a 1 year low of $93.17 and a 1 year high of $132.84.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.19. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 59.57% and a net margin of 0.59%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cardinal Health will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Cardinal Health Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.5056 per share. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.69%.

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.