Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Cardinal Health Inc. (NYSE:CAH) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning.
According to Zacks, “Cardinal Health ended first-quarter fiscal 2017 on a stable note. The company is banking on strategic buyouts (Lymphoseek), joint ventures and supply agreements to drive growth. Cardinal Health continues to believe that China presents significant growth opportunities. Furthermore, growth in new and existing customer count is likely to boost earnings. However, increasing generic pricing pressure remains a major concern for the coming quarters. Moreover, intensifying competition, customer concentration and higher leverage are the primary headwinds. Sluggish macroeconomic situations, competitive markets & a tough product pricing environment are also likely to dent growth.”
CAH has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Cleveland Research downgraded Cardinal Health from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley reiterated a hold rating and set a $91.00 price target on shares of Cardinal Health in a research report on Monday, September 12th. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. downgraded Cardinal Health from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their price target for the company from $90.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Friday, September 16th. Bank of America Corp. reiterated a hold rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Cardinal Health in a research report on Monday, September 19th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group AG reiterated a buy rating and set a $97.00 price target on shares of Cardinal Health in a research report on Tuesday, August 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The company currently has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $91.62.
Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) traded down 1.3494% during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $71.3737. 2,261,481 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged. Cardinal Health has a one year low of $62.70 and a one year high of $91.23. The stock has a market cap of $22.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.2776 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $73.51 and a 200-day moving average of $78.18.
Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 31st. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.03. The business earned $32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.12 billion. Cardinal Health had a return on equity of 25.20% and a net margin of 1.08%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cardinal Health will post $5.47 earnings per share for the current year.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.4489 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 29th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Cardinal Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.58%.
In related news, Chairman George S. Barrett sold 217,995 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.29, for a total value of $15,540,863.55. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 682,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,635,891.54. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Patricia Morrison sold 43,959 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.50, for a total value of $3,626,617.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 99,662 shares in the company, valued at $8,222,115. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.
A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CAH. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 15.4% in the second quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 1,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 8,281.0% in the second quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 1,739 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 2.4% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. SRB Corp boosted its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 4.6% in the third quarter. SRB Corp now owns 1,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 398.2% in the second quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 1,948 shares of the company’s stock valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 1,557 shares during the last quarter. 88.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Cardinal Health Company Profile
Cardinal Health, Inc is a healthcare services and products company. The Company operates through two segments: Pharmaceutical and Medical. The Pharmaceutical segment distributes branded and generic pharmaceutical, specialty pharmaceutical, over-the-counter healthcare and consumer products. This segment also operates nuclear pharmacies and cyclotron facilities; provides pharmacy management services to hospitals, as well as medication therapy management and patient outcomes services to hospitals, other healthcare providers and payers, and provides services to healthcare companies.