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

Shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH – Get Rating) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $80.64.

CAH has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Cardinal Health in a research report on Thursday. They set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Cardinal Health from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird upgraded Cardinal Health from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $87.00 to $94.00 in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Cardinal Health from $78.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st. Finally, Credit Suisse Group increased their price objective on Cardinal Health from $89.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 64,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,964,000 after purchasing an additional 1,358 shares during the last quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health in the fourth quarter worth about $88,000. Trust Investment Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health in the fourth quarter worth about $240,000. Athena Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health in the fourth quarter worth about $205,000. Finally, Equitable Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 4,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 772 shares during the last quarter. 88.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cardinal Health Price Performance

NYSE:CAH opened at $69.62 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $17.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $76.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.87. Cardinal Health has a 1 year low of $49.70 and a 1 year high of $81.57.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $51.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.03 billion. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 101.28% and a negative net margin of 0.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.27 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Cardinal Health will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.4957 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 31st. This represents a $1.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.33%.

Cardinal Health Company Profile

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Cardinal Health, Inc is a healthcare services and products company, which engages in the provision of customized solutions for hospitals, healthcare systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories, and physician offices. It also provides medical products and pharmaceuticals and cost-effective solutions that enhance supply chain efficiency.