Capital Investment Advisors LLC Sells 20,151 Shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC cut its stake in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) by 14.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 120,546 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,151 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $14,257,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Cardinal Health by 16.4% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 14,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,382,000 after purchasing an additional 1,979 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Choreo LLC bought a new position in shares of Cardinal Health during the second quarter valued at approximately $607,000. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Cardinal Health by 28.7% during the second quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,000 after buying an additional 1,065 shares during the period. Finally, Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd raised its stake in Cardinal Health by 10.2% in the second quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 49,221 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,839,000 after buying an additional 4,541 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Cardinal Health Trading Down 0.8 %

CAH stock traded down $1.03 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $120.54. The stock had a trading volume of 302,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,980,532. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.17 and a 52-week high of $126.23. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $119.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.08. The company has a market cap of $29.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.63.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 56.56% and a net margin of 0.56%. The business had revenue of $52.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.73 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Cardinal Health, Inc. 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. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.5056 per share. This represents a $2.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. Cardinal Health’s payout ratio is currently 39.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on CAH. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Cardinal Health from $127.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. TD Cowen raised shares of Cardinal Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $130.00 to $144.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cardinal Health from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $101.00 to $127.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com lowered Cardinal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 3rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $117.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.29.

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.