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

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning.

CAH has been the topic of a number of other research reports. TheStreet cut Cardinal Health from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a report on Wednesday, December 27th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Leerink Partnrs reiterated an outperform rating on shares of Cardinal Health in a report on Monday, February 26th. Argus raised shares of Cardinal Health from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, SVB Leerink assumed coverage on Cardinal Health in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They set an outperform rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $103.07.

Cardinal Health Price Performance

CAH opened at $103.21 on Wednesday. Cardinal Health has a fifty-two week low of $77.56 and a fifty-two week high of $116.04. The company has a market cap of $25.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.68. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.76.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.26. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.30% and a negative return on equity of 57.44%. The company had revenue of $57.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $57.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.32 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Cardinal Health will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Cardinal Health Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a $0.5006 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.74%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CAH. LifeSteps Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Cardinal Health during the 1st quarter worth approximately $71,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health in the first quarter worth $32,000. Legacy Bridge LLC lifted its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 392.6% in the first quarter. Legacy Bridge LLC now owns 665 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Cardinal Health by 2.3% in the first quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 30,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,441,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its stake in Cardinal Health by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. 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.