Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $123.00.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CAH shares. Barclays upped their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $130.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Argus increased their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target 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, August 15th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cardinal Health

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CAH. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Cardinal Health by 2.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,474,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,976,000 after acquiring an additional 33,388 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health during the third quarter valued at $371,000. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health during the second quarter valued at $1,208,000. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Cardinal Health in the 3rd quarter worth about $507,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in Cardinal Health by 87.2% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 25,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,819,000 after buying an additional 11,883 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 CAH opened at $122.45 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $114.96 and its 200 day moving average is $106.82. Cardinal Health has a fifty-two week low of $93.17 and a fifty-two week high of $126.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.63 billion, a PE ratio of 23.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Cardinal Health Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.5056 per share. This represents a $2.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.30%.

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.