Jefferies Financial Group Upgrades Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) to Buy

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $150.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $140.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price suggests a potential upside of 18.04% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on CAH. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays boosted 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. 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, Bank of America upgraded shares of Cardinal Health from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $132.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $136.87.

Cardinal Health Stock Performance

Cardinal Health stock opened at $127.07 on Wednesday. Cardinal Health has a 1 year low of $93.17 and a 1 year high of $132.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $122.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $114.92. The company has a market cap of $30.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.71, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.63.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.19. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.59% and a negative return on equity of 59.57%. Sell-side analysts predict that Cardinal Health will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Cardinal Health

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAH. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in Cardinal Health by 7.0% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 49,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,490,000 after acquiring an additional 3,259 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 34.0% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 902 shares during the period. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health during the third quarter worth $371,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health during the third quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic acquired a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health during the third quarter worth $1,105,000. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.