Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) Declares $0.51 Quarterly Dividend

Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 5th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of 0.5056 per share on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%.

Cardinal Health has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 28 years. Cardinal Health has a payout ratio of 26.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Cardinal Health to earn $8.54 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.02 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.7%.

Cardinal Health Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CAH traded up $1.28 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $113.18. 1,773,544 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,082,850. Cardinal Health has a twelve month low of $93.17 and a twelve month high of $119.13. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.20. The company has a market cap of $27.39 billion, a PE ratio of 22.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.60.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $52.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.73 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cardinal Health will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Cardinal Health news, CEO Jason M. Hollar sold 26,716 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.87, for a total value of $2,908,570.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 244,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,574,187.17. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Aaron E. Alt sold 2,323 shares of Cardinal Health stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.91, for a total transaction of $252,997.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 36,867 shares in the company, valued at $4,015,184.97. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jason M. Hollar sold 26,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.87, for a total transaction of $2,908,570.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 244,091 shares in the company, valued at $26,574,187.17. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 113,963 shares of company stock worth $12,379,980. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CAH. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Cardinal Health from $130.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Cardinal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. Citigroup reduced their target price on Cardinal Health from $115.00 to $107.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Argus raised their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

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.