Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $127.89 and last traded at $127.81, with a volume of 1588946 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $126.27.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on CAH. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cardinal Health from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $101.00 to $127.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Cardinal Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Cardinal Health from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Cardinal Health from $127.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.29.

Cardinal Health Trading Up 0.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $31.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $121.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $112.70.

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

Cardinal Health Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.5056 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. Cardinal Health’s payout ratio is 39.30%.

Institutional Trading of Cardinal Health

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 46.7% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 778 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 88.7% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 9,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 4,435 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 3.2% during the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 3,836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 37.9% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 399,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,032,000 after purchasing an additional 109,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Cardinal Health in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,979,000. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

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.