Park Avenue Securities LLC Increases Position in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH)

Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) by 16.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,575 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 918 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $736,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cardinal Health during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 6,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 86.8% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 69,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,998,000 after purchasing an additional 32,250 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 50.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 184,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,649,000 after purchasing an additional 61,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 282,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,470,000 after purchasing an additional 38,769 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Cardinal Health Stock Performance

Shares of Cardinal Health stock opened at $99.64 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $100.08 and a 200 day moving average of $104.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.28, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.64. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $85.11 and a fifty-two week high of $116.04.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $54.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $56.05 billion. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 54.74% and a net margin of 0.25%. The company’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. Analysts forecast that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.35 EPS for the current year.

Cardinal Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.5056 per share. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. This is a boost from Cardinal Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 1st. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio is 88.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CAH has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Cardinal Health from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Cardinal Health from $96.00 to $94.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $134.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Argus lowered their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.67.

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.