Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Buy

StockNews.com cut shares of Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on CAH. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Cardinal Health from $134.00 to $128.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Argus lowered their price target on Cardinal Health from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Cardinal Health from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Cardinal Health from $96.00 to $94.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $109.67.

Cardinal Health Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of CAH stock opened at $95.70 on Tuesday. Cardinal Health has a 12 month low of $85.11 and a 12 month high of $116.04. The firm has a market cap of $23.31 billion, a PE ratio of 42.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $99.32 and a 200-day moving average of $104.30.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $54.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $56.05 billion. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 54.74% and a net margin of 0.25%. Cardinal Health’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cardinal Health will post 7.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be paid a $0.5056 dividend. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. This is an increase from Cardinal Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 1st. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Cardinal Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 6,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $673,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 86.8% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 69,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,998,000 after acquiring an additional 32,250 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 50.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 184,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,649,000 after acquiring an additional 61,933 shares during the period. Finally, Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 282,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,470,000 after acquiring an additional 38,769 shares during the period. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.