Plato Investment Management Ltd Purchases 4,656 Shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH)

Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) by 5,609.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,739 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,656 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $530,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,382 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the period. Iowa State Bank increased its stake in Cardinal Health by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 35,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,591,000 after acquiring an additional 727 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its position in Cardinal Health by 37.8% in the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 5,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $508,000 after buying an additional 1,381 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health during the fourth quarter worth about $259,000. Finally, Birch Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cardinal Health by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC now owns 18,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,837,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on CAH. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Cardinal Health from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Cardinal Health from $96.00 to $94.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. StockNews.com raised Cardinal Health from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Argus decreased their price target on Cardinal Health from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Cardinal Health from $115.00 to $107.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.67.

Cardinal Health Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:CAH traded down $1.36 on Friday, hitting $102.03. The company had a trading volume of 1,194,046 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,142,576. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.72, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.61. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a 52 week low of $85.11 and a 52 week high of $116.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $98.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.48.

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

Cardinal Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.5056 per share. This is an increase from Cardinal Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.78%.

Cardinal Health 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.