Banco Santander S.A. Raises Stake in Cardinal Health, Inc. $CAH

Banco Santander S.A. increased its holdings in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 117,354 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 13,228 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $18,420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,823,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,838,054,000 after acquiring an additional 247,667 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 205,539 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Cardinal Health in the second quarter valued at $584,420,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Cardinal Health by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,037,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $510,347,000 after purchasing an additional 207,750 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,349,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $394,761,000 after buying an additional 45,812 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cardinal Health Stock Performance

Cardinal Health stock opened at $227.10 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $213.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $186.44. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a 1 year low of $120.72 and a 1 year high of $230.81.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $65.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.88 billion. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.68% and a negative return on equity of 92.50%. The company’s revenue was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.93 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Cardinal Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.5107 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. Cardinal Health’s payout ratio is 29.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Leerink Partners upped their target price on Cardinal Health from $240.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Cardinal Health from $222.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $220.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $255.00 target price on shares of Cardinal Health in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Cardinal Health from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $245.20.

Cardinal Health Company 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.