Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $245.6667.

CAH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Cardinal Health from $243.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Evercore upped their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $250.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Argus increased their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $232.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $233.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Cardinal Health in a research report on Friday, February 6th.

Cardinal Health Stock Performance

Shares of CAH opened at $207.91 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $217.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.65. Cardinal Health has a 52 week low of $120.72 and a 52 week high of $233.60.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $65.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.88 billion. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 92.50% and a net margin of 0.68%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.93 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cardinal Health will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Cardinal Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.5107 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. Cardinal Health’s payout ratio is presently 29.35%.

Institutional Trading of Cardinal Health

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Cardinal Health by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 9,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,902,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. HF Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,074,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,184,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR grew its position in Cardinal Health by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR grew its position in Cardinal Health by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 5,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,223,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Cardinal Health

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.