Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its stake in shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 539,718 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,248 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Cardinal Health were worth $54,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cardinal Health during the 4th quarter valued at about $209,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 50.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 184,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,649,000 after purchasing an additional 61,933 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 282,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,470,000 after purchasing an additional 38,769 shares during the period. Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cardinal Health during the 4th quarter worth about $6,290,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 547,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,618,000 after purchasing an additional 126,668 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CAH. SVB Leerink began coverage on Cardinal Health in a report on Monday, February 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com cut Cardinal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Leerink Partnrs restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Cardinal Health in a report on Monday, February 26th. Argus upgraded Cardinal Health from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Cardinal Health from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.07.

Cardinal Health Stock Performance

Shares of CAH stock traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $103.21. 1,399,916 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,705,735. Cardinal Health, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.56 and a fifty-two week high of $116.04. The company has a market capitalization of $25.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.68. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $109.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.85.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.26. Cardinal Health had a net margin of 0.30% and a negative return on equity of 57.44%. The business had revenue of $57.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.32 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Cardinal Health, Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Cardinal Health Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were given a dividend of $0.5006 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Cardinal Health’s payout ratio is currently 78.74%.

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.