National Pension Service Buys 33,673 Shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. $CAH

National Pension Service boosted its position in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) by 7.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 500,340 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 33,673 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $78,533,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Cardinal Health during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $584,420,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in Cardinal Health by 92.5% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,679,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,063,000 after purchasing an additional 807,063 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 476.8% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 883,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $148,402,000 after acquiring an additional 730,209 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 298.3% during the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 821,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,978,000 after purchasing an additional 615,398 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 237.6% in the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 680,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,760,000 after purchasing an additional 478,689 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Cardinal Health Stock Up 1.7%

NYSE:CAH opened at $214.85 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $51.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.41, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $206.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $178.14. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a twelve month low of $120.72 and a twelve month high of $216.51.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $64.01 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

CAH has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Cardinal Health from $221.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Cardinal Health from $224.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Cardinal Health from $220.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Mizuho set a $222.00 target price on Cardinal Health in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Leerink Partners set a $240.00 price objective on Cardinal Health in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cardinal Health presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.73.

About Cardinal Health

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.