Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) Upgraded at StockNews.com

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

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $130.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup cut their target price on Cardinal Health from $115.00 to $107.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Cardinal Health from $115.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Cardinal Health from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $111.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cardinal Health presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $120.18.

Cardinal Health Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CAH opened at $110.06 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.07. Cardinal Health has a 1 year low of $90.19 and a 1 year high of $116.05. The firm has a market cap of $26.81 billion, a PE ratio of 48.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.60.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cardinal Health will post 7.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were given a $0.506 dividend. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. This is an increase from Cardinal Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jessica L. Mayer sold 16,573 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.39, for a total value of $1,812,920.47. Following the sale, the insider now owns 75,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,310,467.69. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Jessica L. Mayer sold 16,573 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.39, for a total value of $1,812,920.47. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 75,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,310,467.69. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jessica L. Mayer sold 17,896 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.48, for a total value of $1,905,566.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 94,529 shares in the company, valued at $10,065,447.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 113,963 shares of company stock valued at $12,379,980 in the last 90 days. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cardinal Health

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cardinal Health during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Cultivar Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Cardinal Health during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cardinal Health in the second quarter worth about $29,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cardinal Health in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Palisade Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors 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.