Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Acquires New Position in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new position in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 11,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,207,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 82.2% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,128,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $358,390,000 after acquiring an additional 1,862,291 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Cardinal Health by 0.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,340,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $290,026,000 after buying an additional 28,412 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,619,561 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,052,000 after buying an additional 389,431 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Cardinal Health by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,496,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $216,749,000 after buying an additional 19,287 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in Cardinal Health by 118.9% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,516,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $152,816,000 after purchasing an additional 823,520 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Cardinal Health Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CAH traded down $1.34 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $98.38. 453,049 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,263,261. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a 52-week low of $80.90 and a 52-week high of $116.04. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $108.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.27. The company has a market capitalization of $23.96 billion, a PE ratio of 44.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.71.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $54.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $56.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.34 EPS for the current year.

Cardinal Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be given a $0.5056 dividend. This is a positive change from Cardinal Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. Cardinal Health’s payout ratio is 88.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CAH. Argus upgraded shares of Cardinal Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Leerink Partnrs reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Cardinal Health in a research note on Monday, February 26th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Cardinal Health from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised Cardinal Health from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Cardinal Health from $96.00 to $94.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.79.

About Cardinal Health

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.