Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Strong-Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Monday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $96.00 to $94.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $129.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an in-line rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $115.00 to $107.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Argus cut their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cardinal Health presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $109.67.

Cardinal Health Stock Performance

CAH stock opened at $96.71 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $98.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $103.69. Cardinal Health has a 52-week low of $85.11 and a 52-week high of $116.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.98, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.61.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.13. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.25% and a negative return on equity of 54.74%. The firm had revenue of $54.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $56.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cardinal Health will post 7.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.5056 per share. This is a boost from Cardinal Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake 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 worth $673,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 86.8% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 69,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,998,000 after acquiring an additional 32,250 shares during the period. Pinebridge Investments L.P. increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 237.7% in the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 171,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,290,000 after acquiring an additional 120,740 shares during the period. Tobam increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 773.4% in the first quarter. Tobam now owns 49,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,496,000 after acquiring an additional 43,488 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 220,661 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,243,000 after acquiring an additional 24,222 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

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.