AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Buys 478,689 Shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. $CAH

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) by 237.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 680,173 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 478,689 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $106,760,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Cardinal Health by 3.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,389,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,069,005,000 after acquiring an additional 205,539 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $584,420,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 7.3% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,037,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $510,347,000 after purchasing an additional 207,750 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 2.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,349,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $394,761,000 after purchasing an additional 45,812 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Cardinal Health by 19.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,930,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,402,000 after purchasing an additional 309,335 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Cardinal Health Price Performance

Shares of CAH opened at $210.22 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $49.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.65. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a one year low of $120.72 and a one year high of $215.48. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $206.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $177.30.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $64.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.41 billion. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 84.37% and a net margin of 0.68%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, January 2nd were issued 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 of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. Cardinal Health’s payout ratio is currently 30.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Cardinal Health in a report on Monday, December 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $243.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $220.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Cardinal Health from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $190.00 to $244.00 in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Cardinal Health from $195.00 to $208.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Cardinal Health from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cardinal Health currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.07.

Cardinal Health 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.