Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) Lowered to “Buy” at StockNews.com

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

CAH has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Leerink Partnrs restated an outperform rating on shares of Cardinal Health in a report on Monday, February 26th. TheStreet lowered shares of Cardinal Health from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a report on Wednesday, December 27th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. SVB Leerink started coverage on shares of Cardinal Health in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They set an outperform rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on Cardinal Health in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued an overweight rating and a $117.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $103.07.

Cardinal Health Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of CAH opened at $103.54 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.59. The company has a market cap of $25.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.68. Cardinal Health has a twelve month low of $77.56 and a twelve month high of $116.04.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.26. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.30% and a negative return on equity of 57.44%. The company had revenue of $57.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Cardinal Health will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were given a dividend of $0.5006 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. Cardinal Health’s payout ratio is 78.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cardinal Health

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CAH. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC increased its position in Cardinal Health by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 5,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cardinal Health during the third quarter valued at about $126,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC raised its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 7,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Cardinal Health by 47.6% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 44,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,863,000 after purchasing an additional 14,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MBM Wealth Consultants LLC grew its position in Cardinal Health by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 3,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cardinal Health Company Profile

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.