Analysts Set Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) Price Target at $244.33

Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $244.3333.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Leerink Partners reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $275.00 price objective on shares of Cardinal Health in a report on Monday, March 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Cardinal Health from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird set a $252.00 price objective on Cardinal Health in a report on Friday, February 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Cardinal Health from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Cardinal Health from $220.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cardinal Health

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Cardinal Health by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,441,258 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,461,179,000 after acquiring an additional 617,775 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Cardinal Health by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,509,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,570,647,000 after buying an additional 221,497 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Cardinal Health by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,529,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,336,750,000 after buying an additional 43,924 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Cardinal Health by 153.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,804,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $911,010,000 after buying an additional 3,511,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Cardinal Health during the fourth quarter valued at about $790,344,000. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Cardinal Health Stock Down 0.1%

CAH opened at $213.85 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $217.24 and a 200-day moving average of $203.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.77, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.64. Cardinal Health has a 12-month low of $129.52 and a 12-month high of $233.60.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $65.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.88 billion. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.68% and a negative return on equity of 92.50%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.93 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Cardinal Health will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st were given a dividend of $0.5107 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 1st. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.35%.

About Cardinal Health

Cardinal Health is a multinational healthcare services and products company headquartered in Dublin, Ohio. Tracing its roots to the early 1970s, the company has grown into a major provider of supply chain and distribution services for the healthcare sector. Cardinal Health operates across a range of service lines that support hospitals, health systems, pharmacies, physician offices and clinical laboratories.

The company’s core activities include the wholesale distribution of branded and generic pharmaceuticals, the supply and distribution of medical-surgical products, and the provision of logistics and inventory management solutions.