The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Has $32.68 Million Position in Cardinal Health, Inc. $CAH

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its stake in Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) by 9.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 154,649 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,599 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $32,679,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 617,775 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Cardinal Health by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,509,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,570,647,000 after purchasing an additional 221,497 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Cardinal Health by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,529,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,336,750,000 after purchasing an additional 43,924 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 153.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,804,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $911,010,000 after purchasing an additional 3,511,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cardinal Health in the 4th quarter valued at $790,344,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cardinal Health Trading Up 1.4%

CAH opened at $230.18 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.49. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.75 and a 12 month high of $243.21. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $222.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $215.30.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $3.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.79 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $60.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.10 billion. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.62% and a negative return on equity of 92.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.35 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 10.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were issued a $0.5158 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is a positive change from Cardinal Health’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 1st. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CAH has been the topic of several research analyst reports. William Blair initiated coverage on Cardinal Health in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cardinal Health from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on Cardinal Health from $260.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Cardinal Health from $245.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Cardinal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $251.73.

Cardinal Health Profile

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.