Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) Raised to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Cardinal Health from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Cardinal Health from $130.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Cardinal Health from $111.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $115.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cardinal Health has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $119.36.

Cardinal Health Price Performance

Shares of CAH stock opened at $112.41 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $111.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.96. Cardinal Health has a one year low of $90.19 and a one year high of $116.05. The stock has a market cap of $27.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.60.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.10. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.37% and a negative return on equity of 54.85%. The firm had revenue of $59.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cardinal Health will post 7.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st were paid a $0.506 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. This is a positive change from Cardinal Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cardinal Health news, CEO Jason M. Hollar sold 46,455 shares of Cardinal Health stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.02, for a total value of $5,064,524.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 197,636 shares in the company, valued at $21,546,276.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Cardinal Health news, insider Jessica L. Mayer sold 16,573 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.39, for a total transaction of $1,812,920.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 75,971 shares in the company, valued at $8,310,467.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jason M. Hollar sold 46,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.02, for a total transaction of $5,064,524.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 197,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,546,276.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 113,963 shares of company stock worth $12,379,980. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cardinal Health

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 36.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 254,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,142,000 after purchasing an additional 68,382 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC grew its position in Cardinal Health by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 507,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,078,000 after purchasing an additional 79,033 shares in the last quarter. Buckley Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Cardinal Health by 3.7% during the third quarter. Buckley Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after buying an additional 405 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 309,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,257,000 after purchasing an additional 21,414 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 61.9% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $608,000 after buying an additional 2,103 shares during the period. 87.17% of the stock is currently 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.