Atle Fund Management AB Buys 3,500 Shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. $CAH

Atle Fund Management AB boosted its position in shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 30,297 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,500 shares during the quarter. Cardinal Health accounts for 1.9% of Atle Fund Management AB’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Atle Fund Management AB’s holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $4,755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cardinal Health by 107.2% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 99,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,698,000 after purchasing an additional 51,416 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 298.3% during the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 821,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,978,000 after buying an additional 615,398 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 568.0% in the second quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 85,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,329,000 after buying an additional 72,525 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 309,335 shares during the period. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 102.8% during the 3rd quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 36,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,734,000 after acquiring an additional 18,516 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on CAH. Argus increased their target price on Cardinal Health from $211.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $224.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho set a $222.00 price objective on shares of Cardinal Health in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Leerink Partners set a $240.00 target price on shares of Cardinal Health in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cardinal Health from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cardinal Health has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.73.

Cardinal Health Stock Performance

Shares of CAH opened at $214.85 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $206.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.02. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $120.72 and a fifty-two week high of $216.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.05 billion, a PE ratio of 32.41, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.65.

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 company had revenue of $64.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.41 billion. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.68% and a negative return on equity of 84.37%. Cardinal Health’s revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Cardinal Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were issued a $0.5107 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.77%.

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.