Wall Street Zen Downgrades Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) to Buy

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Sunday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on CAH. Morgan Stanley set a $255.00 price target on Cardinal Health in a report on Friday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Cardinal Health from $220.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Leerink Partners restated an “outperform” rating and set a $275.00 price target on shares of Cardinal Health in a report on Monday, March 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cardinal Health in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Argus raised their target price on Cardinal Health from $232.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $244.33.

Cardinal Health Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CAH opened at $215.32 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $217.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $200.82. Cardinal Health has a 1-year low of $128.44 and a 1-year high of $233.60. The company has a market cap of $50.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.64.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.32. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 92.50% and a net margin of 0.68%.The company had revenue of $65.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.93 EPS. Cardinal Health’s revenue was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cardinal Health will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Cardinal Health by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 9,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,902,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. HF Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Cardinal Health by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Cardinal Health by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,184,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR lifted its position in Cardinal Health by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 513 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in Cardinal Health by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 5,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,223,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Cardinal Health Company Profile

Cardinal Health is a multinational healthcare services and products company headquartered in Dublin, Ohio. Tracing its roots to the early 1970s, the company has grown into a major provider of supply chain and distribution services for the healthcare sector. Cardinal Health operates across a range of service lines that support hospitals, health systems, pharmacies, physician offices and clinical laboratories.

The company’s core activities include the wholesale distribution of branded and generic pharmaceuticals, the supply and distribution of medical-surgical products, and the provision of logistics and inventory management solutions.