Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $133.01 and last traded at $132.62, with a volume of 199689 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $132.12.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Cardinal Health from $136.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Cardinal Health from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $132.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $135.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $142.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Argus set a $148.00 target price on shares of Cardinal Health in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $139.36.

Cardinal Health Trading Up 0.5 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $126.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $119.78. The stock has a market cap of $32.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.66.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.19. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.59% and a negative return on equity of 59.57%. On average, analysts anticipate that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Cardinal Health Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.5056 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $2.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.69%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Cardinal Health by 4.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,177,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,566,913,000 after buying an additional 627,253 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,859,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $691,145,000 after purchasing an additional 109,273 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 4.7% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,290,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $474,203,000 after purchasing an additional 191,568 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,182,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,396,000 after purchasing an additional 140,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 154.6% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,151,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $372,756,000 after purchasing an additional 1,913,892 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

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.