Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) Raised to “Buy” at TD Cowen

TD Cowen upgraded shares of Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $144.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $130.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $127.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cardinal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 3rd. Bank of America raised Cardinal Health from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $132.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday. UBS Group lifted their target price on Cardinal Health from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Cardinal Health from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $101.00 to $127.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cardinal Health has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.71.

Cardinal Health Stock Up 1.0 %

CAH stock opened at $122.56 on Wednesday. Cardinal Health has a twelve month low of $93.17 and a twelve month high of $126.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $119.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $110.76.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $52.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.90 billion. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 56.56% and a net margin of 0.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.73 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cardinal Health will post 7.82 EPS for the current year.

Cardinal Health Cuts Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cardinal Health

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,749,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $633,298,000 after acquiring an additional 42,082 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $162,976,000 after purchasing an additional 33,388 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Cardinal Health during the 3rd quarter worth about $371,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Cardinal Health during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,691,000. Finally, National Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cardinal Health in the 3rd quarter valued at about $903,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

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.