Investors Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH)

Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 12,055 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 279% compared to the average volume of 3,181 put options.

Institutional Trading of Cardinal Health

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cardinal Health in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 69.8% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 253 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Cardinal Health in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. AM Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Cardinal Health during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new position in Cardinal Health during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on CAH shares. StockNews.com lowered Cardinal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 3rd. Evercore ISI upgraded Cardinal Health from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $127.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.64.

Cardinal Health Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of CAH stock traded down $4.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $123.56. 6,025,672 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,386,769. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $122.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $113.85. Cardinal Health has a 1-year low of $93.17 and a 1-year high of $132.84. The company has a market cap of $29.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.63.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.19. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.56% and a negative return on equity of 56.56%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cardinal Health will post 7.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cardinal Health Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.5056 per share. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.30%.

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.