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

Shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $126.24 and last traded at $126.02, with a volume of 399121 shares. The stock had previously closed at $124.71.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Cardinal Health from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Cardinal Health in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $139.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $127.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cardinal Health currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.29.

Cardinal Health Trading Down 0.6 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $30.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $120.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $111.81.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $52.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.90 billion. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 56.56% and a net margin of 0.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.73 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a $0.5056 dividend. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.30%.

Institutional Trading of Cardinal Health

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Cardinal Health by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,749,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $633,298,000 after acquiring an additional 42,082 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Cardinal Health by 2.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,474,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,976,000 after purchasing an additional 33,388 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC acquired a new position in Cardinal Health in the third quarter worth $371,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in Cardinal Health in the third quarter worth $1,691,000. Finally, National Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cardinal Health during the third quarter valued at $903,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.